Firing from across Afghan border injures 5 in KP's South Waziristan: security sources

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN LOWER: Mortar shells fired from across the Pak-Afghan border injured five people — four children and a woman — in the Angoor Adda village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district on Wednesday, according to security sources.

The sources said that the shells struck the homes of two residents of the village and that the injured children were between the ages of three and 13.

All the injured were take to the district headquarters hospital in Wana, they added.

They said that the Afghan Taliban and affiliated elements had repeatedly targeted civilians across the border, adding that after Wednesday’s attack, the Pakistan Army promptly retaliated by targeting their firing positions along the border.

As a result, the Afghan Taliban abandoned their posts and fled, the sources said.

The attack came three days after the Afghan Taliban opened unprovoked firing at civilians in South Waziristan, leaving three injured.

Security sources said at the time that the Afghan Taliban’s posts were destroyed in retaliatory action.

The sources said that Afghan Taliban had been making attempts to help a group of Fitna-Al-Khawarij — a term used by the state for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan — cross into Pakistan. However, due to the prompt action by the military, the infiltration attempt was thwarted, they added.

“Out of frustration, following several failed attempts to infiltrate into Pakistan, [the] Afghan Taliban targeted civilian population in Angoor Adda today,” they said.

They had added that previously, the Afghan Taliban repeatedly targeted Pakistani civilians in Dir, Bajaur, Orakzai, Torkham and North Waziristan districts.

The attacks have taken place as Pakistan continues to carry out Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban and terrorists operating from its soil. It was lau­nched on the night of Feb 26, following unprovoked cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban.