Pakistan Army Strike Kills Many Civilians

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PESHAWAR, Pakistan- When an army jet bombed a remote village in Pakistan’s tribal region of Khyber, at least 73 civilians were killed, local officials said.

The incident took place on Saturday, but because the news was slow in being reported because of the region’s inaccessibility.  Dilla Baz Khan, helping free a woman from the rubble an air raid when the Pakistani jets came back to the valley for another bombing run, killing scores of locals in a village that has been said to be supportive of army offensives against militants on the Afghan border.  On Tuesday Khan, along with other survivors said at least 68 were killed in the weekend airstrikes.  This contradicts initial army accounts that the majority of the dead were Islamists militants.  Officials have reportedly already paid compensation to families of victims.

Officials declined to say how many dead were civilians.  The top official in Khyber, Shafiullah Khan, apologized to local tribesman and admitted the victims were “mostly” innocent villagers.  The facts point to this being one of the most serious incidents of civilian casualties inflicted by Pakistan’s military in the border region in recent years.  These attacks will likely hurt efforts to get the backing of local tribesman tribesman for offensives against insurgents behind bloody bombings in Pakistan, as well as attacks on international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Many people have died in the area in the last year and a half.  Villagers say another strike by a U.S. drone missile killed 13 people on Monday, contesting accounts by Pakistani officials that the dead were four militants. Major General Athar Abbas said those killed in the air strike were attacked because it had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site.

Correspondents say that the army is under pressure from the U.S. to move forcefully against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the north-west.  The army consistently reports killing militants in air strikes, but rarely admits responsibility for civilian deaths.

Relief agencies say the attacks against militants in Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan have displaced more than one million people.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Pakistan ‘Army Air Strike Kills Dozens of Civilians’– 13 April 2010

Associated Press- Pakistani AirStrike Kills Many Civilians: Official– 13 April 2010

The Washington Post-Ire Grows Deadly Pakistan Airstrike– 13 April 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive