In the early hours of Monday, tragedy struck the Matre Dara village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the Pakistan Air Force dropped eight LS-6 bombs from JF-17 fighter jets. The strikes reportedly killed at least 30 people, including women and children, and destroyed a significant part of the village. Reports indicated that several others were injured, though official confirmation was still pending.
Local sources and media reports stated that the airstrikes were aimed at Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the region. However, all confirmed casualties so far were civilians, highlighting the devastating collateral impact on the local population. Matre Dara, a Pashtun-majority village, lies in a region that has seen a surge in military operations targeting militants in recent weeks.
Just a day prior, Pakistani forces announced the killing of seven TTP terrorists in Dera Ismail Khan district during an intelligence-based operation. Among the dead were three Afghan nationals and two suicide bombers, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing. Between September 13 and 14, at least 31 other TTP militants were neutralised in two separate encounters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reflecting an intensified crackdown against the group.
The recent escalation underscores the rising wave of terrorist activity in Pakistan’s border provinces, which share a porous frontier with Afghanistan. Amid these developments, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that Afghanistan faces a choice: either take a stand against terrorists or risk being seen as complicit in cross-border militancy. The airstrikes on Matre Dara have drawn attention to the human cost of the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the region.
