US drone attack kills 15 in North Waziristan

At least 15 alleged militants were killed and several others sustained injuries when an unmanned US aircraft fired missiles on two compounds in Mir Ali, the area of North Waziristan on Monday.

According to the media reports, the drone attack targeted compounds in Mir Ali, the capital of North Waziristan. The rescue process was delayed due to continued drones flying in the area soon after the attack.

The attack was the eighth drone strike in Pakistan since a NATO conference on Afghanistan in Chicago last month. The media reports quoting security officials said that some foreigners had been killed in the incident.

The report observed, “Fifteen militants were killed in a dawn strike on a compound. The bodies of those killed were unable to be identified. We have received reports that 15 militants have been killed in a drone strike but at this moment we don’t know about their nationalities.

The officials said that they were not clear about the number of the militants who were present in the compound at the time of attack.

The latest strike came amid an uptick in drone strikes. Earlier on Sunday, an attack targeted at least five alleged militants including a commander, near Wana – the main town in South Waziristan.

America believed that Pakistan’s tribal areas provide shelters to Taliban and Al-Qaeda related leaders for plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

The bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US went into freefall last year when an American raid killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and US air strikes in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

After the air strikes, Pakistan shut its Afghan border to Nato supplies and ordered US staff out of an air base reportedly used as a hub for drones.

Apparently the American administration has put aside the request made by Islamabad to halt drone attacks within the country’s territory.

It is vital to mention here that according to a tally compiled by NewsPakistan, almost 150 people have been killed in the drone strikes during this year.

The US unmanned aircrafts carried out 45 attacks in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=24634

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 4 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.