Calls for probe after killing of civilians reported in northwest Pakistan

At least 24 people, including children, have been killed in explosions in a remote area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, triggering calls for an investigation into the incident.

A local police official said bomb-making material allegedly stored at a compound run by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters exploded in the Tirah Valley region early on Monday, killing fighters and civilians.
But a number of local opposition figures and other authorities accused the Pakistani military of carrying out night-time air strikes as part of a “counterterror operation” to take out fighters in mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.

An official statement has yet to be released by the Pakistani government or armed forces.

Local police officer Zafar Khan was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency that at least 10 civilians, including women and children, were killed, along with at least 14 fighters, two of whom were TTP commanders.

Pakistan’s security forces are carrying out operations against the TTP in Khyber, Bajaur and other parts of the northwest. The TTP is an outlawed group that has been waging an armed rebellion against Pakistan’s government since its emergence in 2007. It is different from the Afghan Taliban who rule Afghanistan, though the organisations have common ideological roots.