Islamabad, November 17: US unmanned aircraft fired four missiles at a house in the remote Padam Shah village of Razmak area in the troubled North Waziristan district on Thursday. At least seven people were killed and several others were wounded in the aerial attack.
The strike comes a day after 18 people were killed and several others were injured in a US assassination drone attack in Pakistan’s South Waziristan.
The US regularly carries out attacks by unmanned aircraft on Pakistan’s tribal regions, claiming that the airstrikes target pro-Taliban militants. But locals say that civilians are the main victims of the non-UN-sanctioned strikes.
The aerial attacks, initiated by former US President George W. Bush, have escalated under US President Barack Obama.
While the US government has always declined to publicly discuss its aerial attacks in Pakistan, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted on October 11 that the US is fighting a war in Pakistan by using the assassination drones.
Relations between Islamabad and Washington have soured over the non-UN-sanctioned attacks, with Pakistan insisting that the airstrikes violate its sovereignty.
On October 9, Pakistani Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said the US drone attacks on its territory were unacceptable and a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
“It is very clear that drone attacks are against the sovereignty of Pakistan,” Janjua stated.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Human Rights has meanwhile asked the government to complain about the ‘extra-judicial killings’ to the United Nations and other international bodies.
—Agencies