By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Two quadcopter attacks carried out by militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district have left one person dead and three children injured, police said on Wednesday, signaling a troubling escalation in the use of drone technology by extremist groups in the region.
The first strike occurred Tuesday night in the Srah Bangla area of the northwestern tribal district, according to District Police Officer Saleem Abbas Kulachi. “The quadcopter strike killed a woman and left three injured, including two children,” Kulachi said. The woman’s body and the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical assistance.
Hours later, at 6:45 am Wednesday, a second attack targeted the Miryan Police Station in the same district. Kulachi said an explosive-laden quadcopter, deployed by what he called “Khawarij,” slammed into the facility. No casualties were reported in the police station strike, which marked the third militant assault on the outpost, authorities said.
“These attacks are being carried out by militants who have acquired and deployed quadcopters in carrying out attacks,” said Amir Khan, a media officer for the regional police officer in Bannu. “The police personnel remained safe in the attack,” he added, noting that a search operation was underway to track down the perpetrators.
The term “Khawarij” is frequently used by Pakistani officials to refer to extremist factions such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned militant group that has intensified its operations in recent years. The use of quadcopters, small, agile drones capable of carrying explosives, represents a growing threat in Pakistan, particularly in the volatile provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Wednesday’s incidents follow a string of similar attacks earlier this year. In May, a suspected quadcopter munitions drop in North Waziristan District’s Mir Ali tehsil killed four children and injured five others. Pakistan’s military later denied involvement in the North Waziristan attack, blaming a proscribed militant network it claimed was acting “on the behest of their Indian masters.”
The surge in violence comes amid a broader wave of terror activities in Pakistan, particularly since November 2022, when the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have borne the brunt of the attacks, with Islamabad accusing Afghanistan-based militant groups of orchestrating cross-border strikes, a charge Kabul consistently denies. Pakistan has also pointed the finger at India, alleging it supports militant factions in the two provinces, an accusation New Delhi rejects.
Bannu itself has been a frequent target of militant violence in recent months. On Saturday, armed assailants attacked a jirga, a traditional tribal assembly, in the district, killing one person and injuring three others. In March, a major assault on the Bannu Cantonment left 16 terrorists dead and five soldiers martyred as security forces repelled the attackers. That incident also claimed 13 civilian lives and injured 32 others after suicide blasts caused “severe destruction” to a mosque and a residential building, partially collapsing the cantonment’s perimeter wall.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
