At least 30 people, including women and children, died in air strikes in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday. The Pakistani Air Force used China-made J-17 jets to drop eight LS-6 laser-guided bombs on a village in the Tirah Valley around 2 am.
The attack targeted a Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) bomb-making facility. Local officials said the group employed civilians as human shields and stored crude bombs in nearby mosques. The strikes followed a TTP ambush in South Waziristan, which killed 12 Pakistani soldiers.
The deaths sparked anger among local communities and raised concerns about civilian safety and the effectiveness of intelligence in counter-terror operations. Pakistan’s opposition party criticized the government, calling the strikes a failure to protect civilians.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a remote, mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, historically used by terrorists due to its difficult terrain. Analysts trace the rise of terror groups here to weapons and fighters left over from the Soviet-Afghan war and later the Taliban era.
Pakistan claims the TTP operates from Afghan territory and conducts cross-border attacks. Afghanistan denies this. The strike is part of Islamabad’s ongoing efforts to reclaim control over Khyber, a key battleground for terror activity in the region.
