U.S. drone attack kills at least six in Pakistan 

Reuters, May 22, 2010

Haji Mujtaba

At least six people have been killed in a U.S. drone missile attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Saturday.

The missiles struck a house around midnight in a village about 25 km (15 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, the officials said.

"U.S. drone aircraft fired five missiles at a house owned by a tribesman identified as Khayli, killing six militants," said one intelligence official who declined to be identified.

But residents in the area said 12 people, including four women and two children, were killed. They said those killed were not militants and were from the same family.

Six women and two children were also wounded in the attack and being treated at a hospital in Miranshah, one witness said.

The United States has stepped up missile strikes in Pakistan's northwestern region since a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven U.S. Central Intelligence Agency employees at a U.S. base across the border in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost in late December.

Most of the attacks this year have been in North Waziristan.

U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the drone strikes, saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and fuel anti-U.S. feeling, which complicates Pakistan's efforts against militancy.

It was the fifth drone missile strike in northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, since a failed bid to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square on May 1.

The United States is convinced Pakistan Taliban militants allied with al Qaeda and operating out of northwestern border regions were behind the attempted New York bombing.

U.S. authorities say a Pakistani-American, Faisal Shahzad, has admitted to the failed Times Square bomb attack and has been cooperating with investigators since his arrest on May 3.

Pakistan security officials said on Friday that at least four people suspected of links with a failed bid had been detained in the country.

(Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Michael Georgy and Jerry Norton)

Taliban blow up ‘spies’ in North Waziristan

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Saturday, May 22, 2010

MIRANSHAH:

Taliban strapped bombs to two men they accused of spying for the US, blowing them up at a public execution in the Degan area of North Waziristan, security officials said on Friday.

“Masked Taliban strapped improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the bodies of two alleged spies and blew them up in public,” local police official Khalil Khan told AFP. The Taliban threatened anyone “spying” for the US with the same fate and called on locals to witness the public execution late on Thursday. afp

34 Taliban killed in Orakzai operation

  The Daily Times, Pakistan, Saturday, May 22, 2010

* Forces arrest 10 suspects in Bajaur HANGU:

Pakistani security forces backed by fighter jets killed at least 34 Pakistani Taliban fighters in various parts of Orakzai Agency and Swat district on Friday.

Sources said the Taliban fighters attacked a security checkpost in Dabori area of Upper Orakzai, injuring two security personnel. Troops retaliated and killed 10 Taliban fighters.

Also, the troops killed nine Taliban fighters in Mulla Khel area of Orakzai, while fighter jets later targeted Taliban fighters hideouts in Zakhtan and Kaul areas of the agency, killing 12 Taliban.

In Bajaur Agency, the forces arrested 10 suspects during a search operation across the agency, an official said. Meanwhile in Swat, three Taliban fighters were killed during a clash with security forces in the valley, official sources said.

The sources said the clash took place in Matta tehsil during routine patrolling. The slain Taliban fighters were identified as Alam Sher, Khan Wali and Muhammad Ameen. staff report