US drone kills five in northwest Pakistan: officials

AFP, October 8, 2010

A US drone fired two missiles on a militant compound in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan region Friday, killing five Islamist fighters, security officials said.

Two missiles hit a house in Charkhel village west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, they said.

One security official in Peshawar told AFP: "At least five militants were killed in this US drone attack. The drone fired two missiles."

An intelligence official in Miranshah said: "Both of the missiles hit the militants' compound. We are investigating whether there were any high-value targets."

He said that according to initial indications all of the dead were local militants.

But another intelligence official in Miranshah said: "We are investigating a report that there were four Turkmen fighters among the dead."

Officials said earlier this week that a drone strike had killed five German militants.

Charkhel is about 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of Miranshah, in the Dattakhel area.

The United States has massively ramped up its drone campaign in Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal region on the Afghan border, amid intelligence claims of a Mumbai-style terror plot to launch commando attacks on European cities.

The plot was reportedly caught in its early planning stages, according to media reports.

The missile strikes have reached record levels in the past month, killing more than 150 people since September 3, but have also raised tensions with Islamabad amid reported US criticisms of Pakistan's efforts to stamp out the Islamist threat in the area.

Pakistan has said that there was "no justification" for the drone strikes, describing them as "counter-productive" and "a violation of our sovereignty".

Islamabad closed the main border crossing for NATO supply trucks into Afghanistan, where US-led forces are fighting an Islamist insurgency, after at least two of its soldiers were killed in a cross-border helicopter strike.

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

Officials in Washington say previous drone strikes have killed a number of high-value targets, including the former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Hussein Haqqani, told the BBC that the increase in strikes in North Waziristan came after intelligence agencies uncovered a plot to attack multiple targets in Europe.

NATO tankers torched in new Pakistan attack

AFP, October 9, 2010

Maaz Khan

Gunmen Saturday torched at least 29 oil tankers in southwest Pakistan, the sixth attack in just over a week as Islamist militants continue to target a NATO supply route into Afghanistan.

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

Taliban militants have launched a series of similar attacks to avenge a new wave of US drone strikes targeting rebels in the rugged border region of northwest Pakistan.

"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.

He said the fire engulfed 29 tankers, adding that firefighters were called in from the nearby town of Sibbi to extinguish the blaze.

"We will be able to have a precise idea about the losses only after the fire is brought under control."

Mateen said the tankers, which were on their way to Afghanistan, had stopped in Mitri overnight.

Abdul Qadir, an employee at the roadside hotel told AFP: "I was fast asleep and got up with sound of intense firing.

"When I came out, I saw a group of armed men warning other employees and vehicle drivers to stay away. The gunfire was so intense that it triggered massive fire engulfing all tankers that were parked in front of the hotel," Qadir said.

Baluchistan's home secretary Akbar Durrani said the fire gutted all 29 tankers.

Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came three days after militants torched more than 40 NATO oil tankers and containers in the northwestern city of Nowshera and in Quetta.

"It is difficult at this point of time to fix responsibility on any group. What I say right now is that those who torched the tankers were terrorists," Mateen said, adding gunmen also fired a rocket at the burning tankers.

Mohammed Barwan, an assistant driver for one of the burnt vehicles, told AFP: "The gunmen were armed with Kalashnikovs. We were sleeping near our trucks when these men came and ordered us to leave our vehicles."

"I could see some of the men, who had covered their faces with masks," he added.

Taliban rebels have carried out five attacks on NATO supply vehicles in Pakistan in the past week to avenge an intensified wave of US drone strikes targeting (allged) Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the northwest.

Pakistani authorities have reported 26 drone attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people in the lawless region which Washington calls the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

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

The latest tanker attack came as the main land route for NATO supplies crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan at Torkham in the northwest remained closed for 10th day running.

A second border crossing at Chaman in southwest Pakistan remains open, a customs official said.

Pakistan shut the route at Torkham in protest at a cross-border NATO helicopter attack which killed at least two Pakistani soldiers who were mistaken for militants.

US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson Wednesday apologised on behalf of the American people over what she called the "terrible accident".