Unauthorized strikes kill 18 Pakistanis

Press TV, Sat Oct 2, 2010, 3:43PM

At least 18 people have been killed in two separate non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Unmanned US planes attacked two houses within hours of each other in Datta Khel town in the tribal area on Saturday, security official said.

"In the first attack two missiles were fired at a house while in the second attack four missiles targeted a house and a vehicle. The death toll in the two attacks reached 18," Reuters quoted an intelligence official as saying.

At least six foreigners were killed in the first strike, the official added.

A surge in unauthorized US drone attacks in Pakistan along with NATO operations along the border has sparked criticism from Pakistani officials.

Hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in such drone attacks since 2009.

Pakistan also strongly condemned violation of its airspace by US-led forces stationed in Afghanistan.

In a Thursday meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta in Islamabad, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari censured violation of his country's sovereignty.

The visiting CIA chief, for his part, promised to examine reports that NATO helicopters conducted deadly cross-border raids from Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, who also held a separate meeting with Panetta on Thursday, expressed profound concern over the increasing drone attacks by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

"Pakistan being a front-line ally in the war against terror expects from its partners to respect its territorial sovereignty," he added.

In retaliation to the surge in the cross-border attacks, Pakistan has closed its borders with Afghanistan to NATO supply trucks.

AR/DB/MGH/MMN

US drones kill 15 as Pakistan blocks NATO supplies

Hasbanullah Khan

AFP, October 2, 2010

Two US drone strikes killed 15 (alleged Pakistani Taliban fighters) Saturday in a lawless tribal belt in Pakistan, where a land route for NATO supplies was blocked for a third consecutive day, officials said.

In the latest strikes, US missiles hit two villages near Datta Khel town, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, officials said.

In the first attack four missiles hit a house (allegedly) used by (Taliban fighters) in Dashgah village, killing six people.

A second intelligence official told AFP that initial reports suggested the dead were Uzbek (fighters) from Afghanistan.

The second attack hit Inzarkas village, around two kilometres from the first, killing nine (fighters), officials said.

"Latest reports said the US drone fired four missiles and targeted a vehicle and a house," another intelligence official in Miranshah said.

A security official in Peshawar also confirmed the death toll in the second strike.

Pakistani officials have reported that at least 21 US drone strikes in September have killed around 120 people, the highest monthly toll for the attacks.

The overwhelming majority of the attacks have been carried out in North Waziristan, considered a bastion of forces and Taliban commanders opposed to the US-led war in Afghanistan.

A covert US drone war in Pakistan has killed around 1,140 people in about 140 strikes since August 2008, including a number of senior militants.

Under US pressure to crack down on (Taliban fighters) havens, Pakistan has stepped up its own military operations against militants in the area.

But commanders have so far avoided a major offensive in North Waziristan, arguing that gains elsewhere need to be consolidated to prevent their troops from being stretched too thin.

Pakistan has protested against the drone strikes but has never taken any practical steps to stop the US carrying out such attacks. However, Pakistan's move to block a main land route for NATO supplies this week has shown its determination to protect its airspace from US aircraft.

Pakistan halted the NATO convoys on Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. On Saturday the route remained closed, with no NATO supplies entering Afghanistan.

"The situation is the same. The border is blocked for NATO supplies," an official at Torkham, the main border crossing in Pakistan's Khyber district, told AFP by telephone.

An official at Peshawar also confirmed that convoys had been suspended for a third day but said negotiations were continuing to reopen the route.

The Khyber pass at Torkham is on one of the main NATO supply routes through Pakistan into Afghanistan, where more than 152,000 US and NATO forces are fighting a Taliban-led (resistance to foreign forces).

It was the fourth such strike this week by NATO helicopters pursuing (fighters) into Pakistan, in actions that have been condemned by Islamabad.

Pakistan has insisted that it has not agreed to any "hot pursuit" policy, which would allow US incursions into its territory from Afghanistan.

"There are no agreed 'hot pursuit' rules. Any impression to the contrary is not factually correct. Such violations are unacceptable," a recent foreign ministry statement said.