Accidental blast kills six of a family

MIRAMSHAH: Six members of a family — including women and children — were killed when a mortar shell accidently went off inside a house in Shawal tehsil of North Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.

An official of the political administration said the incident occurred in Talib Jan village near the Wariki Adda area in Shawal, around 65 kilometres west of Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan.

He said the explosion took place when a tribesman, Alam Din, tried to cut a mortar shell with a saw at his residence while his family watched him.

He said Alam Din along with four women and one child died on the spot while two other children sustained injuries. “Most of the house collapsed due to the impact of the explosion,” he added.

Hearing the blast, local residents rushed to the spot and pulled out bodies from the rubble. “The man belonged to the Mehsud tribe and was also associated with the TTP,” he mentioned.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.