At least 23 people, including women and children, were killed on Monday in Tirah Valley’s Matur Dara area in Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, but conflicting accounts emerged over the cause of the deaths.
According to news agency PTI, police officials said the deaths occurred when explosive materials stored at a compound linked to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) detonated. Station House Officer Zafar Khan told the agency that civllians including women and children, were among those killed. The local administration also denied claims of an airstrike, attributing the incident to unsafe storage of explosives at a compound described as a hub for bomb-making and militant training.
However, news agency AFP cited police, security officials, and opposition MPs who alleged that the casualties were caused by an aerial bombardment carried out by security forces. A senior police officer in Tirah told AFP that seven women and four children were among the 23 dead, adding that “the jets targeted four houses, which were completely destroyed.” A security officer based in Peshawar confirmed the toll but did not identify who had carried out the assault.
Iqbal Afridi, an opposition MP from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party, told AFP : “It was the security force’s aircraft that carried out the shelling. It’s their shelling that killed 23 people.” Another provincial MP, Sohail Khan Afridi, said in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly that the raid was “nothing less than an attack on unarmed civilians.”
AFP also reported that around 2,000 people gathered in a nearby town on Monday afternoon to protest against the alleged bombing. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was “deeply shocked” at the deaths “allegedly as a result of aerial bombing” and called for an “immediate and impartial inquiry.”
Footage circulating online, shared by local journalists and social media users, appeared to show bodies lying amidst rubble, including those of children. Rescue teams were seen searching for more victims, raising concerns that the toll could rise.
The Tirah Valley and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have witnessed repeated counter-terrorism operations in the past, with civilian casualties frequently reported. Amnesty International in June flagged what it described as “an alarming disregard for civilian life” in the province, following recurrent drone strikes.
Official figures cited by media outlets suggest that between January and August this year, the province reported 605 terror incidents in which at least 138 civilians and 79 police personnel were killed. Militants linked to groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen are said to be attempting to establish new bases in the region following Operation Sindoor, which destroyed several major hideouts across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Both AFP and PTI noted that the area remains a stronghold of TTP militants, who live among civilian populations and operate training and bomb-making facilities. AFP reported that village councils have repeatedly expressed fears of a new military offensive in the region, while PTI cited officials saying unsafe storage of explosives often results in accidental blasts.
Independent verification of whether Monday’s incident was the result of an airstrike, as alleged by residents and opposition MPs, or an accidental blast at a Taliban compound, as asserted by police to PTI, was not immediately possible.
(With inputs from PTI and AFP)