Peshawar: An FIR filed by Pakistani police over a rare US drone strike outside the tribal belt states all those killed were Afghans, contradicting the government`s assertion that the victims were innocent citizens.
The FIR regarding Thursday`s drone attack on a seminary in Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province further states that no children were killed.
This is believed to be the first FIR of its kind in Pakistan. A majority of strikes by the CIA-operated spy planes have been carried out in the lawless tribal belt, where there is no regular police force.
The FIR was filed against identified persons in a police station in Thal area of Hangu yesterday.
Reports from the region said six persons, including three senior commanders of the Haqqani terror network, were killed in the strike.
However, a statement issued by the Foreign Office yesterday to condemn the attack contended that children were among the victims.
Sections for murder, attempted murder, illegal use of explosives and terrorism were cited in the FIR.
Police station chief Farid Khan said that FIR number 555 stated that unidentified persons had launched four missiles in the drone strike on November 21, Express Tribune reported.
Khan said the case was filed on the directives of the provincial government and the unidentified persons were charged against sections of Anti-Terrorism Act and Pakistan Penal Code.
He said the victims were from Afghanistan and had been unidentified as Noorullah, Hamidullah, Ahmed Jan, Gul Marjan and Abdul Rehman.
Khan also stated the local residents informed him that the bodies were taken to Afghanistan for burial. As a result, autopsy of the dead could not be preformed.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, whose party rules the province, too claimed that children were among those killed.
