Khyber Agency: Mortar shells kill 3, injure 11

Women, children among those wounded in residential area.

PESHAWAR:

Three people were killed and 11 injured when mortar shells hit residential areas in Sheikh Mero Baba on the boundary of Peshawar and Khyber Agency on Saturday evening.

The injured were taken to the Hayatbad Medical Complex (HMC), Khyber Teaching Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital.  A doctor at the causality ward of the HMC said that eight victims were brought to the hospital of who three died. The other five victims are said to be in a critical condition.

However, Ahmad Wali Afridi, a relative of one of the victims, claimed that more than 20 people were injured and eight people had been killed. He added that some of the wounded were taken to the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Locals told The Express Tribune that the incident occurred around 6.15pm in the area, which is considered a boundary line inside the settled region.

The shells destroyed several houses. Locals said they saw several people with severe injuries being taken to hospitals in private vehicles. The injured include women and children.

“It was not just one or two mortar shells, it was a volley of shells which hit several houses,” said a resident Bahadar Shah. Shah added that several people had been buried in the debris and locals were trying to pull them out. Until this report was filed the number of people trapped was not clear.

Tribesman Siraj Afridi said many people were injured when the roof of their houses collapsed in the attack, adding that four women and children who were trapped in the debris were shifted to a hospital in critical condition.

“The incident has created panic in the area and many people have abandoned their houses in fear of another deadly attack,” said another resident Waheed Khan Khalil. He added that the Sarband police were reluctant to go to the area because they fear further attacks by militants, who have been active in the agency for a long time.

Khalil said the mortar shells also hit a cricket ground where children had been playing at the time of the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2012.