June 24, 2025
By Kaleem Ullah
Sulaman Riaz, 18, was enjoying a cricket match with his friends, in the hilly Satn village, situated in the Central Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when a cannon round landed near them. The four boys, who had been laughing and joking, just a few minutes ago were now lying on the ground dead and covered with dust.
Local activist Abdul Khaliq Pathan says the incident happened when the security forces allegedly began shelling the area. “The shells struck multiple locations, including a mosque, a tree near a house, and finally the cricket ground where the boys were seated,” he said. “The blast caused such severe mutilation that the bodies were unrecognizable, and body parts had to be collected and wrapped in plastic bags for burial.”
This area of Central Kurram has seen frequent violence since the military’s 2009 Operation Rah-e-Nijat, which targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements. The operation led to the destruction of entire villages, including Satn. Residents say incidents like this have become a recurring tragedy, occurring every few months.
Abdul Khaliq told Voicepk about the incident over the phone, saying that the local people of the area had contacted him about the firing and, he had immediately contacted local military officials via mobile phone and messages, urging them to halt the shelling, but received no response.
After the casualties occurred, locals attempted to hold a protest outside the commandant’s office in Lower Kurram. “However, we were being stopped at the Balishkhel checkpost for over three hours and were only allowed to proceed to Parachinar at 1 AM. There, we met with military officials and the district administration, including police representatives”. He said.
He further added that during the meeting, the delegation demanded an investigation into the incident, justice for the deceased, compensation for the families, and an immediate halt to indiscriminate mortar and cannon fire into the area. “The officials agreed to our demands, after which the deceased were buried”.
An FIR was later registered by police at the Dogar Police station, claiming that four individuals — Sulaman Riaz (18), Khamid (15), Irfan (16), and Ayaz (15) — were killed in the Torghar area of Kurram due to mortar fire launched by unidentified terrorists. The FIR noted a significant militant presence in the area, stating that the police party cannot enter into the area but an intelligence report suggested that an unknown terrorist was responsible for it. It also mentioned that “the condition of the bodies made it impossible to conduct post-mortems” along with stating that “fear has been spread by the unknown terrorists in the masses of the area”.
However, Abdul Khaliq disputed the FIR’s account, stating that “the children were not victims of terrorist mortar fire but were killed by a cannon round fired by security forces”.
When contacted by Voicepk, the District Police Officer (DPO) dismissed the allegations against the security forces as baseless, stating that no military operation was active in the area because it usually happens when any active military operation is going on. He further added that, it was too early to determine whether the shelling came from militants or security forces, but that the incident is under investigation by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and local police.
Regional tensions
This incident comes amid rising tensions and fear among the civilian population, caught in the crossfire, of ongoing clashes between militant groups and security forces, Quadcopter Drone strikes and mortar firing in the tribal region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Just a days earlier, a mortar shell hit a house in Chamkani area of Kurram, killing a woman. While another incident of Quadcopter drone strike occurred in the Dshka Area of Makeen, Upper South Waziristan.
According to locals, the incident occurred in Dashka village, where children were playing outside a local shop near the school when the drone descended very low. Upon seeing it, the children began chasing the drone, which suddenly dropped ammunition on them, killing one and injuring the others. Afterwards the locals staged a protest against the drone strike and later buried the deceased. The protest was eventually dissolved, and a local jirga was scheduled for June 23 to decide on a response to the incident.
The District Police Officer (DPO) of Upper South Waziristan confirmed the incident and told Voicepk that full security was provided for the protest. The injured were shifted to CMH Razmak. He added that all necessary support was being provided, although no formal complaint had been filed to assess that who did this attack.
In the wake of that attack, on the promised Jirga on June 23, a large number of people came onto the roads including tribal elders, youth, and members of the victims’ families, gathered in front of the security forces’ office, holding a jirga to voice their outrage over the continued quadcopter operations in civilian areas.
The elders and local activist held negotiations with top security officials. Alamzaib Mehsud, who was also a part of the negotiations team told voicepk, that they along with the political representative of the area including Member of the National Assembly Zubair Wazir, Mayor Taj Malook and Mayor Shah Faisal Ghazi, held negotiations with the concerned military persons where they put forward a one-point agenda demanding the court-martialing of the concerned military officer who they are holding responsible.
However, according to him, the talks ended without giving any result. In light of this, tribal representatives also rejected the compensation package promised to them and announced a jirga of all Mehsud tribes to be convened in Makeen on July 10 to determine the collective response and future course of action.
Condemned by Amnesty
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Amnesty International also expressed grave concern over the recurring drone strikes in KP and called for conducting prompt, independent, transparent and effective investigations into these attacks, and bringing all those responsible to justice through fair trials.
“Pakistani authorities have failed to take action to protect the lives and property of civilians in KP who continue to pay the price of an escalating number of drone strikes in the province. Last Friday’s drone strike, killing one child, is part of an alarming series of attacks which have escalated since March of this year”, said the statement.
“Use of drones and quadcopters to conduct attacks resulting in unlawful killing of civilians violates international law. Reports that the strikes have hit homes and volleyball games indicate a reckless disregard for civilian life. It has also demanded that in the cases where the Pakistani authorities are found to be directly responsible or where authorities failed to protect civilians from foreseeable threats, victims and families impacted in the strike must be provided with effective remedies, including compensation and other appropriate reparation.”
Earlier in May, another drone strike in the Hurmaz area of North Waziristan killed four children. In response, locals staged an eight-day sit-in in front of the security forces compound with the bodies of the victims, demanding justice.
The protest ended after an agreement with the civil and military administration. Where organizers of the Mir Ali sit-in said, they were given a written assurance that drone strikes would not target civilians.
However, the military’s media wing, ISPR, issued a statement at that time denying involvement and claiming that the attack was carried out by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) whom it calls Fitna-Al-Khawaraj. While, the TTP has yet not claimed any responsibility of these attacks and issued any statement about these incidents. Furthermore, according sources, the security forces are considering this ongoing drone campaign as an effective tool against combating militancy in the region.
This area of Central Kurram has seen frequent violence since the military’s 2009 Operation Rah-e-Nijat, which targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements. The operation led to the destruction of entire villages, including Satn. Residents say incidents like this have become a recurring tragedy, occurring every few months.