Five die in NATO shelling on Pak-Afghan border town

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Wednesday, September 29, 2010

PESHAWAR:

Security officials said on Tuesday that five people were killed and two wounded by NATO cross-border fire from Afghanistan in the third such incident in days.

They said members of the US-led ISAF in the eastern Afghan province of Khost shelled Matta Sanga town close to the border early on Monday. “Five people were killed and two injured in the shelling by NATO-led forces,” a security official told AFP.

A Pakistani government official in the region said the casualties were “all civilians”. A military official also confirmed the incident. ISAF spokeswoman Major Sunset Belinsky confirmed “an engagement by ISAF helicopters against insurgent forces” on the border on Monday.

“According to current reports the helicopters did not enter Pakistan’s airspace. ISAF forces attempted to contact the Pakistan military prior to the engagement, but were unable to make contact,” Belinsky said. Pakistan on Monday denounced cross-border airstrikes by NATO helicopters pursuing terrorists as a violation of its sovereignty after ISAF said it killed more than 30 rebels on Friday. afp

Qaeda’s operational chief killed in NWA drone strike

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

PESHAWAR:

Al Qaeda’s operational chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan has been killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistani security officials said on Tuesday. Sheikh Fateh was reportedly made al Qaeda chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan after Qaeda’s purported number three and former Osama Bin Laden treasurer Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was killed on May 21, in another apparent drone strike.

 Fateh, whom the intelligence officials said was also killed in North Waziristan, is relatively unknown and his name — a likely nom de guerre — does not feature on the US list of most-wanted terrorists. Pakistani security officials said the Egyptian was killed on Saturday in a US drone strike on North Waziristan, a hub of al Qaeda and Taliban commanders where the covert US missile war had been concentrated. “Yes, he has been killed,” one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. afp

US drone strike kills four in S Waziristan

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

PESHAWAR:

A US drone strike killed four Pakistanis on Tuesday and destroyed a (Taliban) compound in South Waziristan along the Afghan border, local security officials said.

Pakistani officials say unmanned US aircraft have significantly stepped up attacks on Taliban and al Qaeda-linked operatives in the semi-autonomous region this month, recording at least 21 attacks in September.

Tuesday’s strike took place in Zeba village close to the Afghan border and west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. “A US drone fired two missiles which hit a compound, killing four (Pakistanis),” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Another security official confirmed the attack and the death toll. There was no word on the identities of those killed in the attack. agencies