14 more killed in two US drone attacks in NWA

By Malik Mumtaz Khan & Mushtaq Yusufzai

MIRAMSHAH/ PESHAWAR: Fourteen more people, including suspected militants, were killed and several others sustained injuries in two more attacks by US spy planes on a couple of villages in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Wednesday.

Tribal sources in the area said they had never seen the US drones in such a large number in the past in the militancy-stricken NWA, causing panic among the people. The remote-controlled spy planes early Wednesday morning carried out the first attack, firing eight missiles at a house in Dargah Mandi village, seven kilometres west of Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan.

Villagers said the drones first fired four missiles, killing seven people, including some believed to be militants. After an interval of 15 minutes, the villagers said, the drones fired eight more missiles and targeted the tribesmen and some militants engaged in rescue work.

According to the tribesmen, a number of mud-houses located in the vicinity of the suspected militant hideout were also partially damaged when the drones rained the missiles. The attack also caused injuries to some villagers.Security officials said 12 people, including some tribal militants, were killed in the attack on the house in Dargah Mandi.

"We have some reports about the killing of rescue workers but the house struck by the drones was said to be a militant hideout," a government official based in Miramshah said. Pleading anonymity, he said the militants killed in the missile strikes were tribal fighters reportedly engaged in the fight against the Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan. He said it seemed someone had provided wrong information to the US military in Afghanistan about the presence of a high value target in the village as 11 spy planes were seen flying in the area during and after the attack on Dargah Mandi.

Military authorities and the local political administration immediately lifted the curfew in Miramshah and adjoining areas to facilitate the tribesmen to shift the injured people to hospitals.

Earlier, the authorities had announced a curfew in entire North Waziristan on Wednesday due to the movement of troops in the area. The political administration usually imposes curfew in areas that security forces are supposed to traverse to avoid any mishap.

Also, two more people were killed when a drone fired two missiles and struck a house at Paikhel village in the troubled Dattakhel Tehsil near the Afghan border on Wednesday evening. AFP adds: An Afghan Taliban commander and close relative of Sirajuddin Haqqani was among those killed in a recent US missile strike, Pakistani security officials said on Wednesday.

A US drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in Qutabkhel village in North Waziristan tribal district on Tuesday, killing four militants."Afghan Taliban commander Saifullah travelled to the region from Afghanistan three days ago and was killed in yesterday's US missile strike," a senior security official in the area told AFP. The information was based on intelligence intercepts, the official said.