Pak bombs own village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, kills 30 civilians

At least 30 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed in the early hours of Monday when airstrikes hit the village of Matre Dara in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to Indian intelligence sources.

The strikes, which began around 2 am, reportedly involved JF-17 fighter jets dropping at least eight China-made precision-guided bombs on the remote settlement. Witnesses described scenes of destruction, with bodies scattered in the streets and survivors digging through the rubble of collapsed homes with their bare hands.

“Entire families have been wiped out. Most of the victims are women and children who had no chance to escape,” a source said.

The Tirah Valley, near the Afghanistan border, is an area where Pakistani forces frequently target militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied groups. The military describes it as containing “dozens of TTP hideouts”. However, such operations have often been criticised by human rights organisations for causing high civilian casualties.

There was no official comment from the Pakistani government or military on Monday's incident. The strikes were not even reported by Pakistani media. A local police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that airstrikes had targeted at least four houses suspected of being belonging to TTP militants.

Sohail Afridi, a member of the provincial assembly from Khyber district, accused the security forces of carrying out a “carnage”. In a post on X that included a video showing dead children, he wrote, "Scenes of destruction in the Tirah Maidan Akakhail Shadla Matre Dara area after jet bombing by security forces.” In an apparent reference to the Pakistani government, Afridi said the killing of children and innocent people has become a routine for the “oppressors occupying this state”.

This is not the first recent incident of its kind. A week earlier, four children were killed and five others injured in a quadcopter attack, which the Pakistan Army denied conducting, instead blaming the TTP. In May, 22 persons, including seven children, were injured in a similar strike.

Following the airstrikes, tribal elders from the Afridi community reportedly convened a meeting to discuss plans for protests and a possible siege of a nearby air force base in Peshawar.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed outrage and demanded an investigation. It said, “The HRCP is deeply shocked to learn that civilians, including children, have been killed allegedly as a result of aerial bombing in Tirah, Khyber district. We demand an immediate, impartial inquiry and that those responsible be held to account.”