US drone strikes kill 15:
Pakistan blocks NATO supplies
Pakistan: Two US drone strikes killed 15 militants Saturday in a
lawless tribal belt in Pakistan, where a land route for NATO supplies
was blocked for a third consecutive day, officials said.
Officials in Washington say its drone strikes in the region have
killed several high-value targets, including Pakistani Taliban Chief
Baitullah Mehsud, and help protect troops in Afghanistan from attacks
plotted across the border.
However, drone attacks are a sensitive issue in Pakistan as the
attacks also fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim
country. In the latest strikes, US missiles hit two villages near Datta
Khel town, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Miranshah, the main
town in North Waziristan tribal district, officials said.
In the first attack four missiles hit a house used by militants in
Dashgah village, killing six people.
“Two US drones fired four missiles and destroyed the house. Six
militants were killed in this attack,” a Pakistani security official in
Peshawar told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“All of them were militants attached to the Haqqani group,” one
intelligence official said, referring to one of the strongest US foes in
Afghanistan, whose leadership is based in North Waziristan.
A second intelligence official told AFP that initial reports
suggested the dead were Uzbek militants from Afghanistan.
Miranshah, Sunday, AFP |