US missile hits militants in Pakistan tribal area: officials

November 18, 2009

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) –

At least four (Pakistanis) were killed and five others wounded in a US drone missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said Thursday.

The attack took place in Shanakhora village of North Waziristan, an area where Washington says Islamist fighters are hiding out and planning attacks on Western troops stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"It was a US drone attack which targeted a militant compound killing four militants and wounding five others," a senior security official in the area told AFP.

He said two missiles were fired from a US drone.

Another security official confirmed the attack.

"The compound was being used by Taliban (fighters), however it is not clear whether there were any foreign militants or high-value targets," the official told AFP.

Residents in Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan tribal district, said they heard two loud blasts just before midnight.

The attack came against the backdrop of a continuing military offensive in neighbouring South Waziristan, a stronghold of the feared Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Pakistan launched its fierce air and ground offensive in the region on October 17, with 30,000 troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships laying siege to TTP boltholes.

The military says 550 (Taliban fighters) and 70 soldiers have been killed since the army offensive began, but none of the losses can be confirmed independently.

The long-anticipated assault into South Waziristan came after a spring offensive in and around the northwestern Swat valley, which the government declared a success in July. However, sporadic outbreaks of violence continue.

The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.

Islamabad publicly opposes the US missile attacks, with more than 60 such strikes killing more than 580 people since August 2008.

But the Pakistani government welcomed the death of Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack on August 5.

Army shell accidentally kills 6 Pakistan civilians

By Hussain Afzal, Associated Press Writer –

Wed Nov 18, 2009, 12:34 pm ET

PARACHINAR, Pakistan –

An army shell intended for a militant hide-out accidentally killed six civilians in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, police said.

Dozens of people dragged the bodies onto the main highway running through North West Frontier Province, blocking traffic to protest the killings.

The demonstrators chanted "stop the killing of innocent people" and "stop this cruelty," said Hashim Khan, a local resident who participated. The protest lasted about two hours and then dispersed peacefully, he said.

The dead included three women, two children and a man, said a local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The accident occurred in Shahukhel, a town in the Hangu district of the province, he said.

Hangu is close to two areas in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region where jet fighters also pounded militant hide-outs Wednesday killing 18 suspected fighters, said intelligence and political officials.

The attacks come as the Pakistani army is waging a major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border, where al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding.

Officials believe many militants have fled South Waziristan, seeking refuge in other parts of the tribal region and elsewhere in Pakistan.

Jet fighters pounded two hide-outs used by militants loyal to Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the Orakzai tribal area, killing 13 suspected fighters, said the officials.

Planes also attacked compounds in the Kurram tribal area, killing five militants who had fled South Waziristan, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Pakistan's army has pitted some 30,000 troops against up to 8,000 militants in South Waziristan, including many Uzbeks and other foreign insurgents who have long taken refuge in the lawless tribal areas.

Commanders say Pakistani troops have retaken most population centers, roads and strategic high ground in the region but that insurgents remain in parts of the countryside.

The most recent fighting in South Waziristan killed six (Taliban fighters) and injured eight soldiers, the army said in a statement Wednesday.

The information is impossible to verify independently since Pakistan has blocked access to the battle zone.

____

Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this report from Peshawar.