US drone strike kills six in Miranshah

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Daily News, Pakistan,

MIRANSHAH:

A US drone attack killed six Taliban in North Waziristan on Monday. According to details, three US drones fired three missiles at a compound in Khushhali Toori Khel village of the Mir Ali sub-division, 30 kilometres east of Miranshah. “The target was a militant compound belonging to followers of a local Taliban commander Haleem Khan,” a senior Pakistani security official said.

“Six Taliban (fighters) were killed and several others sustained injuries in the strike,” another security official added. Pakistani security officials said most of the dead were Taliban from the Mehsud tribe in neighbouring South Waziristan, from which top leaders and many foot soldiers in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are drawn. Officials said that Khan, the local rebel commander, believed to have ties to Taliban-linked Afghan warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur was not among the dead. haji mujtaba/afp

US drone strike kills 'eight Taliban fighters in Pakistan'

Yesterday, 12:48 pm

Hasbanullah Khan

A US drone attack killed eight (Pakistani Taliban fighters) in Pakistan's northwest tribal region on Monday.

US missiles increasingly strike (Pakistani Taliban fighters) who use Pakistan's rugged North Waziristan district as a haven to plot attacks on US-led troops who have fought against the Taliban (resistance movement)  for nearly nine years in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistani security officials said three US missiles struck a compound in the Khushali Toorkhel area, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) east of Miranshah, North Waziristan's main town.

"The target was a compound belonging to followers of a local (Taliban) commander Haleem Khan," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP, asking not to be named.

"Eight (Pakistani Taliban fighters) were killed and several others sustained injuries in the strike," another security official told AFP.

Pakistani security officials said most of the dead were fighters from the Mehsud tribe in neighbouring South Waziristan, from which top leaders and many foot soldiers in Pakistan's main Tehreek-e-Taliban faction are drawn.

Officials said that Khan, the local rebel commander, was not among the dead.

He is believed to have ties to Taliban-linked Afghan warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters in the region who stage attacks over the border against foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The United States has significantly increased drone strikes on North Waziristan this year, the last one on Saturday killing seven (Pakistani Taliban fighters).

More than 880 people have been killed in nearly 100 drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, and the bombing raids fuel anti-American sentiment in Muslim Pakistan and draw public condemnation from the government.

The Washington Post reported Monday that the Central Intelligence Agency has started using smaller missiles in (the assassination of Taliban) leaders in Pakistan in hopes of minimising civilian casualties.

Citing unnamed current and former officials in the United States and Pakistan, the newspaper said the new technology had resulted in more accurate strikes that have provoked relatively little public outrage.

US officials say the strikes are a vital tool to protect the 126,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan and have killed a number of high-value targets including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Many officials also believe his successor Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a strike in January, but there has been no official confirmation of his death.

Taliban militants on Monday shot dead a pro-government tribal elder, Maulana Abdul Haleem, in Bajaur, in the far north of the tribal belt, officials said.

His bullet-riddled body was dumped in the bazaar of Nawagi, a rural town some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town in the lawless district where Pakistani troops have been fighting since August 2008.

"There was a rope around the neck of Maulana Abdul Haleem and his body had several bullet wounds and signs of torture," local administration official Irshad Khan told AFP.

Haleem had been kidnapped late Sunday with four other elders, Khan said.

Two security officials confirmed the incident.

The killing was the latest in a string of assassinations of respected tribal elders allied to the government against Islamist extremists.

Under US pressure, Pakistan last year significantly increased operations against (Pakistani Taliban fighters) in the tribal belt.

But the military has so far appeared reluctant to launch a similar all-out assault into North Waziristan, where many (Pakistani Taliban fighters) have sought sanctuary.