22 injured in suspected drone attack in northwest Pakistan

Peshawar: A suspected drone attack on a volleyball ground on Wednesday injured at least 22 people, including seven children, in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the second such strike in the restive province within a fortnight.

The incident took place near Karamzi Stop in the Azam Warsak area of Barmal tehsil of South Waziristan district, wounding 22 people who were watching a match.

The injured were immediately shifted to the district headquarters hospital in Wana. The condition of many injured is said to be critical, hospital sources said.

The condition of a 13-year-old and a man was listed as “serious”, Dawn newspaper reported. Seven, including three aged 15, 18 and 19 years, had “major” injuries. The rest of the 13 had “minor” injuries, of which two were discharged, it added.

Zubair Khan, a Member of the National Assembly from South Waziristan, strongly condemned the attack, saying that the incident at the Karamzi stop was a brutal act.

Khan said that immediately after the drone attack, there was an intense exchange of fire in the area, which caused a stampede among the people present on the ground.

Both security forces and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are known to have been using quadcopters.

On May 19, four children of the same family died and five persons were injured in a suspected drone strike in North Waziristan's Mir Ali area. Locals staged a sit-in, demanding justice and the arrest of those responsible for the attack.

Two days later, the Pakistan Army rejected what it called “unfounded and misleading” allegations against security forces in connection with the drone strike in the Mir Ali area.

In a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military said the tragic incident on May 19, which led to the loss of civilian lives, has been falsely attributed to Pakistan’s security forces by certain quarters.