8 Pakistanis Killed in US Drone Missile Attack, Taliban Claim Attack on NATO Supply Convoy

Unauthorized US strikes kill 8 in Pakistan

Press TV, Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:3AM Share

Non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks have killed at least 8 people in northwest Pakistan amid reports of a surge of such US attacks on the country.

In the first attack, a drone fired two missiles at a pair of cars in an Afghan refugee camp in the North Waziristan tribal area, killing six people as the vehicles and a nearby house were destroyed, Pakistani
intelligence officials said.

The camp is located in the Spin Wam area near Mir Ali, one of the main towns in North Waziristan, AFP reported.

Minutes later, a drone killed two people on the bank of a river located just outside the refugee camp, the officials said.

The US strikes were the ninth and tenth in Pakistan this month. The US military carried out twenty-two non-UN-sanctioned attacks against Pakistan in September, the highest monthly figure so far.

Some US officials recently announced that the military is providing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with drones to launch more attacks in Pakistan.

Islamabad has reacted angrily to the air strikes, calling them a violation of its sovereignty.

Though Washington claims the strikes target militants, most of the victims of the attacks have been civilians.

Almost a thousand Pakistanis have lost their lives in more than 100 US drone attacks during the past two years.

MSH/JG/HRF

Taliban Claim Pakistan NATO Supply Convoy Attack

– Sun Oct 10, 2010, 2:27 am ET

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) –

Pakistani Taliban on Sunday claimed responsibility for the latest attack on a NATO supply convoy in the southwest and vowed they would continue until US drone strikes are stopped.

"We accept responsibility for the attacks on the NATO supply trucks and tankers in Sibi district on Saturday," Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP.

"We will continue the attacks on NATO trucks and tankers until the drone strikes are stopped," he said in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.

Gunmen on Saturday torched at least 29 oil tankers in southwest Pakistan, the sixth attack in just over a week on vehicles carrying supplies for the 152,000-strong foreign forces fighting the Taliban-led insurgency.

Previous attacks have also been claimed by Taliban.

Two police officers were hurt in the attack in remote Mitri area of Sibi district, 180 kilometres (112 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

"Some 30 gunmen attacked the tankers, which were parked outside a roadside hotel and opened fire early Saturday morning, injuring two local police officials," Abdul Mateen, a senior administration official in Mitri, told AFP.

Taliban militants have launched a string of attacks on NATO supply vehicles in Pakistan in the past week to avenge a new wave of US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the country's lawless tribal region.

Pakistani authorities have reported 26 drone attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people in the region, a hub for homegrown and foreign militants fighting in Afghanistan.

The strikes have been linked to a US plan to disrupt an alleged plot by extremists to launch Mumbai-style attacks in Europe.

Pakistan late Saturday announced it had decided to reopen the main land route for NATO supplies to Afghanistan and officials at the Torkham border in the northwest Khyber region said the vehicles would start leaving later Sunday.

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