Two school children lost their lives on Thursday, after a quadcopter drone struck a hilly area of Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, local media reported.
The fatal incident occurred in the Sahi Thangi area, which is situated about 25 kilometres from Khar, the district headquarters of Bajaur, in the afternoon, reported Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn, citing local residents and official sources.
The sources added that the children who were killed were returning home from school when they were hit by the drone, which left them critically wounded.
The two boys, aged 10 and 12, were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Khar immediately for treatment but were pronounced dead upon arrival, the report noted while mentioning that it still not clear where the quadcopter was launched from and who was responsible for the attack.
An investigation has been launched into the incident to determine the motive behind the attack, the local police stated.
The attack was condemned in ” the strongest terms” by Hamidur Rehman, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) and Bajaur Aman Jirga chief Sahibzada Haroon Rashid.
Both leaders called for an investigation into the attack in statements shared on their respective social media accounts soon after the incident.
Last November, PTI MPA Anwar Zeb Khan had revealed that one person was injured after his home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district was targetted in a drone attack.
In a video statement posted on his social media account on November 28, the provincial lawmaker said, “My house in Raghagan, Khar tehsil, was targeted by a drone (quadcopter) attack by unknown individuals tonight, injuring one of my security guards.”
Earlier this month, at least three people were injured in a terrorist drone attack on a cricket ground in the Mamund area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district.
According to state broadcaster PTV News, the attack was carried out using a quadcopter in the Shahi Tangi area of Mamund tehsil while a cricket match was in progress. The injured were immediately taken to a hospital for treatment.
