Islamabad: Over 30 people, including several women and children, were killed on Monday after the Pakistani Air Force dropped eight bombs on a village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, several media reports have cited. 

Pakistani JF-17 fighter jets dropped LS-6 bombs on the Pashtun-majority village of Matre Dara in Tirah valley in the early morning air strikes. The massive blasts have destroyed a large part of the village with videos and images of the attacks and its devastating aftermath going viral on social media, inviting scathing criticism from people, including several human rights organisations, from all over the world.

Several people were critically injured as videos shared by local journalists and human rights activists on social media showed bodies, including those of children, lying amid the wreckage. The casualties are expected to rise further as rescue teams continue to search for more victims.

Meanwhile, the KP branch of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party expressed shock over the incident, stating that several bombs were unleashed on the local population.

"During the jet aircraft bombing in the Tirah Valley of Khyber, several bombs fell on the local population. Five houses of local citizens were destroyed, and according to local sources, 20 bodies have been recovered from the rubble so far, including children and women among the martyrs. I have no words that can encompass this sorrow and grief. Sometimes drones, sometimes bombings have sown so many seeds of hatred that when this lava erupts, nothing will be left," PTI KP said in a post on X.

Condemning the incident, Baloch human rights activist Mir Yar Baloch called it a deliberate targetting of innocent people, describing it as nothing less than a war crime.

“The world must no longer remain silent while Pakistan continues its genocidal campaign against nations under its illegal occupation. Pakistan must be declared a country, liberated from the chains of Pakistani colonial rule,” Mir posted on X.

The human rights activist expressed solidarity with the people of KP in this dark hour on behalf of the people of Balochistan who he said share their grief and struggle.

“We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity and declare that the sacrifices of the Pashtun people will not be in vain. The voices of resistance cannot be silenced, and together we will expose Pakistan’s crimes against humanity before the civilized world,” Mir added.

(IANS)