(Previous Incident Code: B7 )

A strike took place on a ‘Taliban facility’ in Zamazola, South Wazirista, killing up to eight civilians, international and local media reported.

The initial claims of 30 Taliban killed were lowered to eight deaths, who villagers insist were all innocent woodcutters.

Three civilians were identified by local sources. The News quoted local councillor Said Anwar who named some of those killed:  “I spoke to people in our village and was told that Katoor Khan, son of Chaghan Khan, Taj Alam son of Hawas Khan, and Taj Alam’s 10-year old cousin, all hailing from Kot Killay village were killed along with five unidentified Afghan nomads, known as powindahs. Some of the bodies were badly burnt and dismembered,” he explained. He said there were only six houses in the place that was attacked but women and children in one of the houses had a miraculous escape. He claimed the locals who were killed and wounded in the attack were small contractors who logged timber from the forests and made charcoal from wood with the help of the Afghan labourers.

Khan, father of killed Taj Alam, told Reuters that “only labourers from the Mehsud and Salmanzai tribes were killed.”

According to UXO Info, one unexploded missile at the site (of a type not known to be used by Predators) carried the markings AM York 0873, indicating it was an old ‘dumb’ missile made in the United States, and several local sources reported that a US warplane had carried out the strike.

However, there were also reports that the Pakistan military played a role in the attack, why the incident remains contested.