7 injured as jirga attacked with hand-grenade

WANA: Seven persons sustained serious injuries when unidentified miscreants hurled a hand-grenade on a jirga in Rustam Adda here on Tuesday.

Police sources said that a jirga of elders of the nine subtribes of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe and ulema was in progress at the ground outside the office of District Health Officer to settle the issue of disputed land demarcation between the Ahmadzai Wazir and Dotani tribes in Karkanra area in South Waziristan tribal district.

They said that, in the meantime, unidentified miscreants attacked the jirga with hand-grenade, which exploded with a big bang.

As a result, seven persons sustained serious injuries.

The police said the injured persons were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, Wana, from where three were referred to District Headquarters Hospital, Dera Ismail Khan because of their precarious condition.

No militant group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.

It may be mentioned that the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe had announced to boycott the vaccination against measles and rubella to protest the ‘wrong demarcation’ of disputed land between the Ahmadzai Wazir and Dotani tribes in the Karkanra area.

On Monday, the nine subtribes of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe held another jirga to convey their reservations to the government and local officials regarding the ‘wrong demarcation’ of disputed land.

The jirga elders, including Malik Sherin Jan, Malik Allauddin, Malik Saeedullah Khan, Malik Saifullah Khan and others had alleged that the local officials had committed favoritism in the distribution of disputed land in Karkanra area, which was not acceptable to them.

The jirga had presented three demands to the government, including re-demarcation of the disputed land as per the British-era documents, reactivation of judiciary in the district and quashing cases against the elders of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.