Panic gripped the area during the shelling as people started fleeing their villages for safer places.
“We were sleeping and they attacked us in the night,” Muqeem khan Dawar, a local schoolteacher from Mir Ali, said by telephone. “And all those killed in the shelling were civilians. We know very well who is a Taliban and who is a civilian.”
But local officials dismissed the claims of civilian casualties and insisted that security forces were only going after militant hide-outs.
“We were sleeping and they attacked us in the night,” Muqeem khan Dawar, a local schoolteacher from Mir Ali, said by telephone. “And all those killed in the shelling were civilians. We know very well who is a Taliban and who is a civilian.”
But local officials dismissed the claims of civilian casualties and insisted that security forces were only going after militant hide-outs.
Residents said the bombardment started overnight without any warning.
“We were all asleep when the planes started bombing the village,” said Khyal Zaman, a tribesman from Esori village in Mir Ali. “We had no idea what happened in the dark and those who survived came out of their homes in desperation along with children and started walking away into the open.”
The army was not immediately available for a comment.
Fear and panic gripped the areas struck by the overnight blitz which flattened several houses, following which gunship helicopters conducted fresh strikes in the morning causing locals to flee the volatile area for safer places, according to the DawnNews report.
The localities where the military strikes were conducted included Hamzoni village, Mohammadkhel village of Dattakhel tehsil in North Waziristan, Shera Tala area, Harmaz village, Moski village and other areas of North Waziristan.
Sources said those wounded in the attacks could not be shifted to hospitals for treatment due to a curfew imposed in the area.
“We were all asleep when the planes started bombing the village,” said Khyal Zaman, a tribesman from Esori village in Mir Ali. “We had no idea what happened in the dark and those who survived came out of their homes in desperation along with children and started walking away into the open.”
The army was not immediately available for a comment.
Fear and panic gripped the areas struck by the overnight blitz which flattened several houses, following which gunship helicopters conducted fresh strikes in the morning causing locals to flee the volatile area for safer places, according to the DawnNews report.
The localities where the military strikes were conducted included Hamzoni village, Mohammadkhel village of Dattakhel tehsil in North Waziristan, Shera Tala area, Harmaz village, Moski village and other areas of North Waziristan.
Sources said those wounded in the attacks could not be shifted to hospitals for treatment due to a curfew imposed in the area.



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