ISLAMABAD — At least 15 people, including women and children, were killed in rain-related incidents in Pakistani's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province on Sunday, said officials.

A senior administrative official, Assistant Commissioner Azhar Zahoor in a statement to the media said that at least 12 people, including women and children, died after a cloudburst caused heavy rains across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Hazara and Malakand divisions.

A majority of the casualties occurred when lightning struck a trio of houses located in a remote area named Jhatka within Judba Tehsil in Torghar, he added.

He further said that the houses collapsed after being hit by lightning, burying 13 people under their rubble. A dozen dead bodies have been recovered from the debris so far as rescue work remains ongoing.

The rain also caused landslides and road closures in different areas of the division. Moreover, the roof of a house collapsed in Abbottabad's Kakul area in KPK and buried seven members of a family underneath its rubble.

Three bodies have been recovered and two injured retrieved from the debris as the rescue operation continues. According to Rescue 1122, the house's roof collapsed due to heavy rain.

Earlier, on Wednesday, flash floods triggered by heavy rains damaged scores of houses in Pakistan's scenic northwestern Swat Valley, a spokesman said, as rescuers assisted residents in the port city of Karachi where last week's rains wreaked havoc that killed dozens.

Heavy monsoon rains hit parts of Pakistan last month, triggering flash floods in the country's financial capital of Karachi and elsewhere in southern Sindh province, killing at least 47 people there.

Since June, when rains began lashing Pakistan, at least 176 people have been killed across the country, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Last week, Karachi's many neighborhoods were flooded and water is still being pump out from submerged streets.

Every year, many cities in Pakistan struggle to cope with the annual monsoon deluge, drawing criticism about poor planning. The monsoon season runs from July through September. — Agencies