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KHAR: A mortar struck a home and killed two children and their mother in a northwestern Pakistani region where security forces are carrying out a “targeted operation ” against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and a hospital official said Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the overnight civilian casualties in Mamund, a town in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
Naseeb Gul, a medical doctor at a local hospital, said the dead were two children and their mother. Two people were also wounded Tuesday when another mortar hit their home, he said.
Angered by the deaths, hundreds of demonstrators were refusing to bury the bodies and demanding an investigation, according to local villager Mohammad Khalid.
There was no immediate comment from the government or the military.
The latest development came days after security forces launched an offensive in Bajaur to target militant hideouts. The provincial government said the “targeted operation” was launched after tribal elders failed to evict insurgents from the region.
Government officials said the ongoing offensive against the Pakistani Taliban has displaced 25,000 families or an estimated 100,000 people in Bajaur, where authorities eased a curfew on Wednesday, allowing residents to buy essential items.
Thousands of displaced people are currently residing in government buildings, and many other have gone to other safer areas to live with relatives.
The Bajaur offensive is the second operation there since 2009, when the military launched a large-scale campaign against the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP is a separate but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover and have been living there openly. Some have crossed the border back into Bajaur to carry out attacks.

BELGRADE: Clashes erupted at protests in Serbia between opponents and supporters of the government in an escalation of tensions following more than nine months of persistent demonstrations against populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
Incidents first started on Tuesday evening in Vrbas, northwest of the capital Belgrade, where riot police separated protesters from the opposed camps outside the ruling Serbian Progressive Party offices in the town.
Video footages from the scene showed government supporters throwing flares, rocks and bottles at the protesters, who hurled back various objects. Police said dozens of people were injured, including 16 policemen. Similar incidents were reported at protests in other parts of the country.
The student-led protests in Serbia first started in November after a train station canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad killed 16 people, triggering accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.
Protests have since drawn hundreds of thousands of people, shaking Vucic’s firm grip on power in Serbia. The president’s supporters have recently started organizing counter-demonstrations, fueling fears of violence.
Police said several people were detained after the clashes in Vrbas. Police Commissioner Dragan Vasiljevic told the state RTS television that the protesters “came to attack” the ruling party supporters outside the party offices.
Protesters have said government supporters attacked them first in Vrbas and also further south in Backa Palanka and later in Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis. In Belgrade, riot police pushed away protesters who gathered in a downtown area.
Protests in Serbia since November have been largely peaceful. Led by university students, the protesters are demanding that Vucic calls an early parliamentary election which he has refused. Protesting students have also called for the ouster of Interior Minister Ivica Dacic over recent violence at demonstrations.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. He has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms since coming to power 13 years ago.
Persistent student-led protests against Vucic’s populist government have been held almost daily since November when a fatal train station canopy crash killed 16 people, triggering a wave of anti-corruption