Pakistan’s civilian toll
At the Mardan Medical Complex in northwest Pakistan, 7-year-old Sajida holds her sister, Baby Nimra, 18 months old, who was wounded in the crossfire between Pakistani military units and Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
As the army battles Taliban militants in the northwest, civilians are getting caught in the crossfire.
A sick woman rests at a school in Buner district where her family has taken shelter since fleeing the fighting in the Swat Valley region. It is the same school in which Mir Kamal and his family took refuge after their van was struck by gunfire in Pir Baba. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Ayaz Khan, 5, was struck in the leg and his 15-year-old sister, Zainab was killed when the van their family was riding in came under fire as they fled fighting in their town Pir Baba in Buner. Ayaz’s brother was also wounded. Their father Mir Kamal says two military helicopters fired at them, but a Pakistani military spokesman denied the incident, saying the fire must have come from elsewhere. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Mir Kamal points out damage to his van from gunfire that he and others say came from Pakistani military helicopters. He says that when they returned to Pir Baba, Taliban fighters were still in the area. There was no electricity, and there were no laborers to help Kamal with his harvest. Bodies lay in the streets. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Mir Kamal’s shows the damage to his van. His and two other families that had returned to Pir Baba fled again as fighting broke out in Sultanwas, about 2 miles away. Their van and car was hit by gunfire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Mir Kamal’s wife, Zameena Khan, holds son, Fayyaz, 3, who survived the attack. The family is sheltering in a school in another town and has no plans to return to their home and farm soon. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
