US missiles kill 16 in drone attacks at 3 targets
Source: Agencies |
June 7, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE United States fired missiles at three suspected militant targets in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing 16 people and keeping the pressure on insurgents days after a strike was believed to have killed a top al-Qaida commander, intelligence officials said.
The identities of the dead in the unusually intense volley of drone-fired strikes in the tribal region of South Waziristan were not known, but several Arabs were said to be among the victims of one of them, according to the officials, who didn't give their names.
Since the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, missile strikes have picked up pace from a relative lull in the year's first half. But anger at the bin Laden operation, seen here as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, has led to fresh calls on Washington to stop the attacks.
The attacks yesterday occurred in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani army launched an offensive in 2009 but where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters still remain.
Before dawn, one set of missiles hit a compound in Wucha Dana village, killing seven people. The second set landed at about the same time at a Muslim seminary in the same village, killing five people, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
They said several Arab men were believed to be among the dead.
Later yesterday, missiles hit a vehicle traveling in Dra Nishter village elsewhere in the region, killing four, officials said.
Pakistani authorities said on Sunday that they were increasingly sure that a Friday missile strike in South Waziristan killed Ilyas Kashmiri, a top al-Qaida commander rumored to be a long-shot contender to replace bin Laden as the terror network's chief.
Getting definitive confirmation about who died in the missile strikes is difficult, especially if no body is retrieved. US officials have not confirmed whether Kashmiri died. Pakistani officials declined to comment on whether they had assisted the US in the strike.
The US says the missiles have killed hundreds of militants, including several top al-Qaida commanders.
The identities of the dead in the unusually intense volley of drone-fired strikes in the tribal region of South Waziristan were not known, but several Arabs were said to be among the victims of one of them, according to the officials, who didn't give their names.
Since the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, missile strikes have picked up pace from a relative lull in the year's first half. But anger at the bin Laden operation, seen here as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, has led to fresh calls on Washington to stop the attacks.
The attacks yesterday occurred in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani army launched an offensive in 2009 but where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters still remain.
Before dawn, one set of missiles hit a compound in Wucha Dana village, killing seven people. The second set landed at about the same time at a Muslim seminary in the same village, killing five people, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
They said several Arab men were believed to be among the dead.
Later yesterday, missiles hit a vehicle traveling in Dra Nishter village elsewhere in the region, killing four, officials said.
Pakistani authorities said on Sunday that they were increasingly sure that a Friday missile strike in South Waziristan killed Ilyas Kashmiri, a top al-Qaida commander rumored to be a long-shot contender to replace bin Laden as the terror network's chief.
Getting definitive confirmation about who died in the missile strikes is difficult, especially if no body is retrieved. US officials have not confirmed whether Kashmiri died. Pakistani officials declined to comment on whether they had assisted the US in the strike.
The US says the missiles have killed hundreds of militants, including several top al-Qaida commanders.
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