Pakistani tribesmen say military gunship helicopters fired at civilian places
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, June 5 ,IRNA -- Tribesmen in North Waziristan tribal region said on Sunday that military gunship helicopters fired shells at civilian buildings after a rocket attack on a military convoy, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.
The army sent three gunship helicopters to the site soon after the attack on military convoy in Shehdad Kot area, four kilometers from Miranshah, headquarter of North Waziristan, the tribesmen said on phone from Miranshah.
Helicopters pounded suspected bases of the militants in the outskirts of Miranshah as well as in the town.
Locals said that military shells hit bus station, a bungalow, fruit market, a hotel, orthopedic ward of Miranshah hospital and a religious seminary.
Several people including two students of the seminary were injured.
Several cars were also damaged in the firing.
A local militia man Hasan Khan, who was a patrolling duty at the bus station was killed after a shell, fired from the helicopter landed at the bazaar.
The shopkeepers in main Miranshah bazaar pulled their shutters and the streets wore a deserted look.
Locals said that the helicopters were flying at a very lowest altitude.
Earlier two Pakistani soldiers were killed and two others injured when unidentified armed men attacked a military convoy in the outskirts of Miranshah.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
But the authorities blame pro-Taliban militants for such attacks.
Officials say that Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fled into North Waziristan after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Some 80,000 of Pakistani soldiers are deployed there.
North Waziristan has lately turned into the main hub of pro-Taliban activities.
After reports of the presence of a large number of foreign militants, security forces decided to launch an operation to flush them out.
2020/235/1420
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