Pakistan 'army air strike kills dozens of civilians'

[karan.1970]

btw.. just curious... anyone know what planes were used in the operation??

 

[IBRIS]

Villagers claim many civilians slain during operation

PESHAWAR: Up to 71 civilians were killed in a weekend strike by Pakistani jets near the Afghan border, survivors and a government official said Tuesday - a rare confirmation of civilian casualties that risks undercutting public support for the fight against militants.

The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said authorities had already handed out the equivalent of $125,000 in compensation to families of the victims in a remote village in the Khyber tribal area.

Also Tuesday, a village elder claimed 13 civilians had been killed in US missile strike on Monday night elsewhere in the northwest, contesting accounts by Pakistani security officials that four militants were killed.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas on Monday denied that any of the dead in the Pakistani air force attack were civilians, saying the army had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site of the strike. The victims were initially reported to be suspected militants.

Two survivors interviewed Tuesday in hospital in the main northwestern city of Peshawar gave the first detailed account of the attack, which took place Saturday morning.

They said most of the victims were killed when they were trying to rescue people trapped by an earlier strike on the house of a village elder.

''This house was bombed on absolutely wrong information,'' said Khanan Gul Khan, a resident of the village who was visiting a relative in hospital. ''This area has nothing to do with militants.''

“There were no militants,” Ikramullah Khan Kokikhel, a tribal elder from Saravilla, told Reuters. “It was a house of a tribesman whose three sons are serving as (government) military men.”

Fighter jets first attacked the house Saturday morning.

When residents arrived to remove bodies from the rubble, the jets attacked again, witnesses said.

“It's cruelty. We want a court martial of those who were behind this loss,” said Kokikhel.

Zahir Noor, a villager from Saravilla, said there were bunkers around the village, but they were for defence against the militants.

“We have opposed them openly and never allow them in our territory,” he said.

The senior government official in the region, Shafeerullah Wazir, agreed most of the dead were not militants.

“We believe that the information about the presence of militants in this locality was incorrect,” he told a tribal gathering in Peshawar, the major city that borders the Khyber region. “We're investigating it.”

He apologised on behalf of the government and said he regretted the loss of life.

The military denied civilians were killed.

“The militants had built fortified bunkers and their hideouts were struck after we got ground confirmation by intelligence officials that they were present in their hideouts,” a military official said on Sunday.

Khan said many of the families in the village, Sara Walla, had sons serving in the security forces and that it had a history of cooperating with the army. He said the owner of the house that was bombed initially, Hamid Khan, had two sons serving in the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

He said 68 people were killed and many more wounded. The political official said Monday that the families of 71 victims had been compensated, but did not identify them.

Dilla Baz Khan suffered a fractured arm in the second attack, which he said came around two hours after the first one.

''We were about to pull out a lady from the rubble when another jet came and bombed us,'' he said from the orthopedic ward of the Hayatabad medical complex in Peshawar. ''Then I lost consciousness.''

He said an official from the Khyber political administration visited him Monday and give him $220 for the loss of four relatives, including his brother. ''He said we are sorry for this and we pray for your early recovery,'' he said.

The Pakistani army, under heavy pressure from the United States, has moved forcefully against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the northwest over the last 18 months. It regularly reports killing scores of militants in airstrikes, but rarely says it is responsible for civilian deaths.

Brief reports of significant civilian casualties in the strike Saturday have appeared in the local media in recent days, but have not attracted much attention or criticism.

An editorial Tuesday in Dawn, a respected English-language daily, said it was clear that the dead had no links to the militants and that the incident ''strengthens the hands of the Taliban.''

It said around 60 people were killed.

''Such actions defy description and an explanation is in order from those who ordered the assault,'' it said.

Pakistan intelligence officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said a missile attack late Monday close to the town of Miramshah in North Waziristan killed four suspected militants. Noor Gul, a resident in the village, disputed that, saying 13 civilians, including two children, were killed.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Villagers claim many civilians slain during operation

 

[IBRIS]

Over 200,000 flee military offensive in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations said more than 200,000 people have fled a recent military offensive against Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan.

The military has intensified operations in the Orakzai tribal region in the last few weeks with constant airstrikes and occasional ground battles against the militants. Officials said more than 300 suspected insurgents have been killed since mid-March.

The U.N. said Monday that almost 210,000 have fled Orakzai since the fighting first started at the end of last year. Nearly 50,000 people have fled in the last month alone

Over 200,000 flee military offensive in Pakistan

 

[Mujahid]

only anti-Pakistan forces will benefit from this,
this should not have happened.

 

[third eye]

A very unfortunate event.

Events like these undo years of sustained acts armed forces do while acting within their own borders.

This is the reason why the IAF chief is resisting use of the IAF against the Maoists.

Armed forces often get into situations like these when intel from the ground is either flawed, late( the targets have moved off) or wrong targets get engaged.

It must hurt the AF as much as anyone else. The worst situation to be in is when someone gets killed by your ' friendly fire ".

RIP ..the dead.

 

[Ahmad]

The Question is if there were Millitants then what the Heck Civillians were doing there ?

It is the tabliban tactic to hide themselves among the civilians, we can see the same thing from Afghani taliban. They take civilians as human shield and once the gov/nato strikes the civilians get killed, i blame the taliban for this.

 

[Ahmad]

From the guardian:

At least 71 civilians were killed by a misdirected air strike in Pakistan's tribal zone against suspected extremists, locals claimed today, as thousands of people flee a western-backed military offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the area.

The air strike hit a house on Saturday in a remote part of the Khyber area of the tribal belt, the lawless region that borders Afghanistan. This week, the United Nations warned that more than 200,000 new refugees had been created by Pakistan's latest anti-Taliban offensive, this time mostly from Orakzai, which borders Khyber to the south.

The Pakistani military refused to confirm the deaths but the local government administration paid out 10m rupees (£75,000) compensation, residents said. Military sources said they had targeted bunkers being constructed by extremists in the Tirah valley and it was unclear how a house could have been hit.

The episode is a significant setback to the campaign to win the support of civilians for the offensive. The house hit belonged to a tribal elder belonging to the Kukikhel, a clan loyal to the Pakistani state, and whose three sons serve in the Pakistani military.

The issue of civilian casualties in Pakistan is mirrored in Afghanistan, where Nato-led forces also grapple with poor intelligence and the difficulty of identifying friend from enemy.

"All of those killed were civilians, 100% innocent," said Ikramullah Jan Kukikhel, a tribal elder, speaking by telephone from the area.

"The Kukikhel are with the government. We have never joined the Taliban or any other fundamentalist group. We are normal people who just want peace for the country."

Kukikhel said the death toll had reached 71 yesterday and by now could be up to 80. He said between 20 and 30 others were injured when the house of Hameed Khan, in Sra Vella village, was bombed by the jets, killing women, children and elderly people.

As villagers rushed to the house to dig out the victims, another air strike hit, killing many more.

The chief army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, denied that civilians were killed in the episode. The Pakistani military has never admitted to civilian casualties since it launched the current series of anti-Taliban offensives in April last year, with an operation in the Swat valley in the north-west of the country.

Separately, the UN warned this week that aid groups were running out of funds for Pakistan's internally displaced people, with 1.3 million still homeless as a result of military operations, including the offensive in Orakzai which escalated a month ago and has pushed around 200,000 out of their houses.

"This situation is not only forgotten by the international community but by Pakistanis too," said Kilian Kleinschmidt, the deputy director of the United Nations refugee agency in Pakistan. "The crisis here is not over."

International interest in the internal refugee crisis in Pakistan had dried up since the 1.6 million displaced people from Swat returned home last year, he said, with an emergency UN appeal this year only 20% funded.

 

[Windjammer]

It is the tabliban tactic to hide themselves among the civilians, we can see the same thing from Afghani taliban. They take civilians as human shield and once the gov/nato strikes the civilians get killed, i blame the taliban for this.

These culprits have been driven out of their strong holds and are now on the run like headless chickens, seeking and forcing their way into communities. No doubt they may even have their supporters giving them shelter. Anyways, they say grit comes with grains, members shouldn't try and milk this story.

 

[Ahmad]

Disgusting and more worryingly - what a double standard.

If this had happened anywhere else other than in Pashtun heartlands there would've been a outcry and media publicity.

I've yet to see any politician appologize for this catastophic blunder nevermind talk about compensating the innocent. Had this happend in Karachi you can bet your last dollar Rehman Malik would be kissing the feet of MQM leaders and Gilana would've issued a direct appology...

Is Pashtun blood not worth anything anymore?

I cant believe you are giving ethnic colour to this tragedy. If you talk about the vicitms to be Pakhtoons in this bombardment, why dont say anything about the TTP which is a pakhtun made organization and killing many innocent everywhere? Dont bring ethnicities in the middle of this messy situation as all ethnic groups are suffering badly in the whole region, be it in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Pakistan Admits Airstrike Killed 45 Civilians​

By ZAHID HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan army acknowledged Wednesday that at least 45 civilians died in a military air strike targeting Taliban leaders last weekend, an admission which could fan domestic criticism of the U.S.-backed war effort against Islamic militants.

General Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman, said the civilians were killed when Pakistani jets bombed a suspected militant hideout in Sera Vela village which is located in the Khyber tribal region in the northwest of the country near the border with Afghanistan.

The military, which rarely confirms civilian deaths, had earlier denied a report by Pakistani newspaper Dawn that more than 60 civilians were killed in the attack. The dead had gathered around a compound used by Taliban militants that was targeted by a Pakistani air force strike, Gen. Abbas said. He didn't detail how many militants died in the action.

Many of those killed belonged to the Kookikhel tribe, which has opposed the Taliban. Some retired army and paramilitary soldiers living in the area were among the dead and injured. Kashmalo Khan, a 63-year-old retired soldier whose right leg was fractured, said he lost 11 family members in the strike.

Washington has praised Pakistan for success in battling Islamic militants in its tribal areas, a semi-autonomous zone which has been used by Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders for years as a base to plan attacks against U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

The military, aided by unmanned U.S. drone strikes, has since last year killed a number of top Pakistan Taliban leaders who were operating from the tribal region of South Waziristan. The Pakistani military believes that militants who survived those attacks have taken refuge in Khyber and Orakzai, another tribal area.

Since late last year, stepped up military operations in Orakzai have forced more than 200,000 people to leave their homes in the area, the United Nations said this week. That added to an estimated 1.3 million people who had already been displaced by fighting in the tribal regions.

Mounting numbers of civilian deaths, added to a growing refugee crisis, could further undermine the Pakistani military's war against Islamic militants in the border regions, analysts say. U.S. drone strikes are already unpopular among many Pakistanis.

"The incident will further complicate the Pakistani military's efforts to mobilize public support for its anti-Taliban campaign," said Rifaat Hussain, a professor of security studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. "Family of the victims could become easy recruits for the militants."

Although weakened, the Pakistan Taliban, which is linked to the Afghan Taliban, have been able to evade capture in the mountainous tribal regions and continue to carry out attacks. Earlier this month, the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a pro-government meeting in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, which killed more than 50 people.

It remains unclear who is directing the Pakistan Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, after its leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. missile strike in August 2009. Hakimullah Mehsud, who took over the leadership, was reported to have been injured in an attack on his hideout in February but it remains unclear whether he was killed.

Pakistan Admits Airstrike Killed 45 Civilians - WSJ.com

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

How long before Maj Gen Athar Abbas has the decency to do a U-turn?

Apparently as long as it took the military to complete its own investigation into the incident.

You were too hasty to assign malicious intent to the military, as well as to paint it in ethnic shades.

With both Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns in my family I can assure you I have no desire for flaming any ethnic tension as it would DIRECTLY affect me. Lets take your example anyway, remember the ashura blast - How much media attention, pandering by Rehman Malik and direct government intervention did that get to say...the most devastating attack by terrorists in 2010 Pakistan in Lakki Marwat? There's a plethora of compelling examples I can give to show that there has been a deliberate damping down in the media of the need to highlight civillians deaths of pashtuns in the NWFP which has similarly been shrugged off by the ruling elite also.

This is undeniable.

Take civillians aside for a second, to highlight the lack of concern, our blessed NWFP police force [again majority pashtuns] wasn't even given bullet proof jackets till last month and this is the most volatile region of Pakistan.

Need I go on?

In this case probably yes, but looking at the whole situation more attentively there's an undercurrent of discrimination and a cheapness associated with the lives of those who are killed in Pashtun heartlands. If it means me having to point it out, regardless of the love for my country I shall as injustice is the biggest catalyst for terrorism.

Whether you have Pashtun in your family or not does not make your arguments valid.

You are taking incidents out of context and adding your own speculation to them to come up with a vision that satisfies your agenda of promoting ethnic tensions.

IIRC, the attacks in Peshawar last year did get a huge amount of attention and sympathy from the GoP and across the nation.

As for the Ashura attacks, part of the reasons behind the greater attention there were that it is a city that has for the most part remained isolated from terrorist attacks, and the attacks were sectarian in nature and there was a huge emphasis on preventing a 'tit for tat' cycle of violence that Pakistan has experienced in the past, and that could in the current climate spiral into the sectarian violence seen in Iraq.

Beyond that it is also true that is human nature that we become desensitized after a while to events of a similar nature, and people are unfortunately getting desensitized to the violence in FATA and the North West.

As for the claims about the BPJ's, that is an example of Pakistan's inefficient bureaucracy, not of some sort of imagined agenda against Pakhtuns.

While the incident is certainly regrettable and one hopes steps will be taken to avoid such incidents in the future and care for those affected, your comments were out of line and stoking ethnic hatred where there was no need to nor any facts supporting your POV.

Please pursue a more rational line of discourse next time.

 

[sparklingway]

Army announces compensation for families of air strike victims​

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

By Said Nazir Afridi

BARA: Following the apology tendered by the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to Kukikhel tribe on the killing of civilians in air strikes in Sra Vella area of Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency, on April 10, the Pakistan Army announced compensation of Rs 20 million for the victims.

“We never expected that Pakistan Army will admit its mistake and apologise for the killing of innocent people in Sra Vella,” said a tribesman from Jamrud, Nafees Khan, while talking to The News.

He said the majority of Kukikhel tribe was happy with Kayani, who admitted that innocent people had been killed in Sra Vella. “The apology and compensation announced by the Army chief for Sra Vella victims healed the wounds of Kukikhel tribe,” Malik Wazir said and added that Kukikhels, like the past, would continue their support to the Pakistan Army in future and sacrifice for the defense of the country.

While talking to this scribe, the Political Agent (PA) of Khyber Agency, Shafeerullah Khan, said the military would pay Rs 200,000 each to 61 dead and Rs 100,000 each to 21 injured of Sra Vella air strikes within two days. He said that Pakistan Army would bear the cost of treatment of the Sra Vella injured admitted in Peshawar hospitals. “The federal government would pay a separate compensation package to the victims of Sra Vella in near future,” the official said.

On behalf of Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Brig Basit and Brig Arshad visited the ICRC Hospital in Peshawar where they inquired about the health of seven injured of Sra Vella and paid them Rs 100,000 each. They also paid Rs 200,000 to heirs of two dead each.

According to the ISPR, the Pakistan Army has granted Rs 20 million compensation for the victims of Sra Vella. The six-member scrutiny committee, made by Kukikhel grand Jirga, would visit the FC Camp at Shakas today to receive the announced compensation by the Army. Two Pakistani jet fighters attacked the house of late Hameed Khan in Sra Vella area on April 10 in which 61 people were killed.

 

[sparklingway]

I find this highly annoying and downrigh wrong though:-

​

This is The News International, Islamabad/Rawalpindi Edition - March 20, 2010. Page 12

Nobody thanks for an apology.