Explosions in Pakistan kill 24, mainly civilians, near Afghan border, sources say

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) -Four explosions killed at least 24 people, the majority civilians, in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border late on Sunday night, two government officials and local residents said on Monday.

Conflicting reports emerged about the nature of the blasts. 

Local residents said that Pakistani fighter jets had bombed four houses. Two security officials, however, denied this, saying there had been explosions in a munitions dump in a militant hideout.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Pakistani army’s public relations wing did not respond to a request for a comment. 

The Pakistani army regularly conducts operations in the region to kill militants, who operate on both sides of the border.

The incident took place in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber District, where hundreds of residents took to the streets to protest the event before burying the bodies, the government officials said.

The provincial chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, said “the loss of civilian lives in such incidents was both tragic and condemnable,” and that “civilian casualties as result of action against terrorists were unacceptable,” according to a statement from his office.

The statement did not clarify the nature of the action or indicate who carried it out.   

Khyber District in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is located in a volatile region along the border with Afghanistan, which has long been home to Islamist militants. 

The officials said, citing local sources, that four militants lived in one of the houses that were destroyed. The rest of the fatalities were civilians, they said.

At least 12 children were killed, resident Mohammad Ali Shinwari told Reuters.   

“The residents of nearby villages reached the area and pulled the bodies from the rubble in the middle of the night,” he said.

The chief minister announced compensation of 10 million Pakistani rupees ($35,300) for each civilian killed in the incident, his office said, without mentioning how many of those killed were civilians.  

A host of Islamist militant groups operate in the region. The militants have long fought against the state to overthrow the government and replace it with their own strict Islamic system of governance.

The militants have lately stepped up attacks against the army, including two on September 13, which killed 19 soldiers. 

($1 = 283.1000 Pakistani rupees)

(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Matthew Lewis)