Suspected US strike in Pakistan kills 10 militants
16 May 2009
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) A suspected US missile strike killed 10 militants in a Pakistani tribal area near the Afghan border on Saturday, security officials said.
"It was a drone strike on a compound, where militants were staying," a security official said on condition of anonymity.
The compound was located in Khaisur village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region, known as a hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
Confirming the strike and raising the death toll from four, another security official said, "Two missiles were fired from the drone, killing 10 militants."
He said there were two foreigners among the 10 killed while the rest were local militants.
It was not immediately clear whether any high value targets were killed.
The strike was the second suspected drone attack in the past four days. Eight militants were killed in an earlier strike on Tuesday in South Waziristan tribal region.
There have been more than 40 such strikes since August 2008, which have killed more than 380 people.
US President Barack Obama has adopted a new strategy to defeat Islamist extremists, putting Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying they are counter-productive and violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment among the populace.
The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region.
Pakistan has called for military equipment and drones in order to better attack the extremists itself, and thus save the government from the furious anti-US backlash that officials say weakens Islamabad's rule.
US officials said the United States was not ready to hand over Predators to the Pakistani government. Washington has, however, started sharing with Islamabad surveillance data collected by drones flying over Pakistan, top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen said Thursday.
Under heavy US pressure, Pakistan is pressing a ground and air assault against Taliban militants in three districts of North West Frontier Province, which unlike the tribal areas comes under direct government control.
More than 940 Taliban militants and 45 soldiers have been killed so far in the ongoing military operation launched in Lower Dir, Buner and Swat districts since April 26.
Pakistan rejects criticism that it does not do enough to counter Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants holed up on the Afghan border.
Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since becoming a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Source: AFP