ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Sunday promised an investigation into the alleged deaths of civilians in a drone attack that took place this week, killing 11 people as per reports. 

The KP administration on Saturday confirmed an “anti-terror operation” had been conducted on Friday after an international wire agency reported that drone strikes killed at least 11 people, including women and children. 

The strikes targeted what officials described as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the Katling area of Mardan district. The action had been taken following a TTP attack on Friday that killed seven soldiers during an army operation elsewhere in the province.

KP government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif told Arab News on Saturday that as per information received later, “unarmed people” including women and children had been killed in the attack. The army has not yet commented on the development. 

“The sad incident of the martyrdom of civilians during this operation will be investigated from all aspects so that the facts come out,” KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was quoted as saying by his office. 

Gandapur, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the main opposition party in the country that is in power in KP, noted that high-profile “terrorists” had been killed in the same area during previous operations against militants. He said as per official information, 12 “terrorists” had been killed in the area.

“After the inquiry report surfaces, the provincial government will give its clear stance regarding the incident,” he added.

Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident. 

“The inquiry result must be made public immediately and not swept under the carpet as has been done in the past,” Khan wrote on social media platform X. 

Local residents placed the bodies of the victims on the road in protest after the attack, a senior police officer told AFP on Saturday. He said the dead were being described by locals as “innocent civilians.”

Shortly after reports of the casualties emerged, the TTP released a statement announcing a three-day ceasefire on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr.

It added that TTP fighters would refrain from operations on the last day of Ramadan, Eid day, and the day after Eid, but reserved the right to respond in self-defense if attacked.

The TTP, which announced a “spring offensive” earlier this month, has claimed responsibility for around 100 attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent weeks.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in KP since November 2022, when its fragile truce with the TTP broke down. 

According to an AFP tally, over 190 people — mostly security personnel — have been killed in militant violence in KP and Balochistan since the start of the year.

Last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade, with more than 1,600 fatalities nationwide, nearly half of them security forces, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies.

Islamabad blames the surge in attacks on militants using Afghan territory as a base, particularly the TTP, which Pakistan says enjoys sanctuaries across the border.

The Afghan Taliban-led government in Kabul denies this, and accuses Pakistan in return of harboring Daesh militants.

-With input from AFP