Pakistan, September 08: A U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles into Pakistan’s North Waziristan on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing up to 10 militants in the second strike in as many days, intelligence officials said.
Although U.S. ally Pakistan is battling militants in its northwest it officially objects to the U.S. strikes by pilotless aircraft, saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and cause civilian casualties which bolster Islamist support.
The latest missile strike came hours after Taliban militants attacked a group of boys on their way to school in another part of the northwest, killing four and wounding three, officials said.
Pakistani intelligence agents said the target of the missile strike was the house of a cleric near the Afghan border used as a militant hideout.
“Nine to 10 militants have been killed. They are locals affiliated with the Haqqani group,” an intelligence official in the region told Reuters referring to veteran Afghan Islamist guerrilla commander Jalauddin Haqqani.
Five militants were killed in a similar strike in the same region on Monday.
Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks across the northwest since mid-2007, raising concern about nuclear-armed Pakistan’s stability.
The Pakistani militants also support the Afghan Taliban and many cross over the largely unguarded border to fight U.S.-led forces there.
Facing surging violence in Afghanistan, the United States stepped up its missile strikes in Pakistan last year.
GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT ATTACK
The drones have killed hundreds of militants since then including the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in the South Waziristan region early last month.
Pakistani and U.S. officials said the militants were in disarray after Baitullah’s death and their attacks appeared to tail off though they have been picking up again.
The boys were attacked in the Orakzai ethnic Pashtun tribal region, apparently because they were minority Shi’ite Muslims.
Taliban militants are from the majority Sunni community.
Tribesmen retaliated and killed at least two militants and wounded several, said residents of the area near the region’s main town of Kalaya.
—Agencies