MIRAMSHAH, March 26: The government will pay compensation to the families of 39 people killed in a recent US drone attack on a jirga in Datakhel area of North Waziristan. According to an official, Rs300,000 each will be paid to legal heirs of the dead and Rs100,000 each to those injured in the March 17 attack.

The strike had killed 45 people, including tribal elders and security personnel, and injured six others.

However, officials said that only 39 people were killed.

Assistant political officer Azhar Khan said the Civil Secretariat Fata in Peshawar had released Rs10.13 million for distribution among the victims’ families and the injured. He said legal heirs would produce documentary proof in support of their claim for compensation.

The injured are getting free treatment in the agency headquarters hospital in Miramshah and the government has offered to shift them to Islamabad or Peshawar for treatment, if needed. Usually, the government pays compensation to the families of security personnel and civilians killed in bomb blasts and terrorist attacks and this is the first time that it has announced compensation for the victims of a drone attack.

Pakistan had summoned US Ambassador Cameron Munter and lodged a strong protest over the strike. It also pulled out of a ministerial meeting between the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet drones regularly fly over Waziristan.