US drone kills four militants in S Waziristan: Officials
The drones fired eight missiles Friday night at the compound in Baghar, 40 kilometres west of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan tribal district, where the military launched a ground offensive two years ago.
"The strike killed four militants and wounded three others," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said the identities of those killed in the attack could not be immediately established.
Another security official confirmed the strike and said that the targeted compound was one of the few buildings used by mujahideen during the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union.
Baghar is a mountainous area covered by thick forests and is difficult to access. It is said to be used by Pakistani warlord Maulvi Nazir, whose fighters are allied to the Haqqani network and active in the 10-year war in Afghanistan
A US official in Washington described a commander in the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network who was killed on Thursday as "the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield".
Pakistani officials reported 10 militants killed in two US drone strikes on Thursday and named the Haqqani commander as Jamil Haqqani, a coordinator for the Afghan Taliban faction in North Waziristan.
The US official said he was known as Jamil and as Janbaz Zadran, accusing him of having "played a central role in helping the Haqqani network attack US and coalition targets in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan".
Pakistani officials said the slain commander was not a relative of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Afghan warlord who founded the Taliban faction, but had been close to his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, who now runs the network.
The United States blames the Haqqanis for fuelling the 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan, attacking US-led Nato troops and working to destabilise the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The tense partnership between Pakistan and the United States in the war on terror took a further battering this month, with Washington demanding that Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network and cut ties to the group.
The outgoing top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen called the Haqqani network a "veritable arm" of Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and accused Pakistan of supporting attacks on US targets in Afghanistan.
Islamabad officially denies any support for Haqqani activities, but has nurtured Pashtun warlords for decades as a way of influencing events across the border and offsetting the might of arch-rival India.
The Pakistani military says it is too over-stretched fighting local Taliban to acquiesce to American demands to launch an offensive against the Haqqanis, a battle that not all observers think the Pakistani military would win.
More than 50 strikes have been reported in Pakistan so far this year including dozens since Navy SEALs killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad, close to the capital Islamabad, on May 2.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said for the first time that the United States was waging "war" in Pakistan against militants, referring to the covert CIA drone campaign that Washington refuses to discuss publicly.
COMMENTS (23)
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Excellent news! Let it rain Hellfires!! God bless the USA!
@call me crazy, think of it as free Maths tuition courtesy of Uncle Sam.
if only the victims were shia or qadyanis, these news channels will be talking about the innocent being killed. Law does not allow this, it is illegal to kill humans this way ... these humans are also pakistanis, will our media start looking at them as it looks at the qadyanis and hazara shias
@j. von hettlingen: Had America spent this money to engage these poverty stricken people in some productive activities, the problem would have been solved. And after spending this huge amount one cannot say that their target is even near to be achieved. It has lit up fire to take revenge in the the survivors and their next generations. How poorly this issue is being handled by a country like America which is so advanced in all fields including human behavioral sciences.
"He said the identities of those killed in the attack could not be immediately established."... But we have killed terrorists
@JP: My Lord i would have presented evidence if you were the Judge and i was a suspect. So till the time you take to study and become a judge, i humbly request your permission to laud and cheer every terrorist being bombed back to the stone age.
Please curse the mulla that is producing the terrorists or mercenaries.No body would ever tolerate a person who throws stones in his neighbour house.Why we have taken this responsibility to dictate to Afghanistan ? Are they subservient to us or we are better Muslims than them.
Drone attacks are divine punishment from good because of bad deeds of people like an earth quake.People should repent for their sins and ask for God's forgiveness.
@Asghar Khan These terrorists boast of conducting bomb and gun attacks, therefore Uncle Sam doesn't have to proven anything.
Uncle Sam says every one is guilty until proven innocent. - Right Zafar Karchiwala. I am sure you will say the same if the terrorists were based in Karachi.
Jugde, Jury and executioner. All of you who think this is good, are sick and need your head examined. You also believed that Iraq had WMD and million people were killed. Most people in Afghanistan and tribal region dont even know what 911 is and they mind their business
@Zafar Karachiwala: Evidence sir, were these terrorist or innocents more than you?
Pakistan should be thankful to the Americans for helping them out to eliminate these terrorist living in remote areas. Isnt Pakistans objective the same ? To rid Pakistan of terrorist.
@Mirza:
I can see the ground realities on your comment, this is what the patriotism is all about.
Warm Regards.
Awesome. BOMB BOMB BOMB these terrorists back to the stone ages.
@call me crazy: Uncle Sam is doing an excellent job by killing the most dangerous terrorists of the world. The least you can do is to keep a tag on numbers killed by him.
Good Shot!
How much does each drone missile cost an American tax-payer? Eight were fired in Wana in the fourth attack in two days. The gain - four dead and three wounded! Did the sortie pay? The U.S. is determined to conduct its war on terror and had urged Pakistan in the past to help eliminate the Haqqanis in North Waziristan, where they are based and target the Americans in the Patika Province. Yet the Pakisitani military was reluctant to do so. So the Americans take the matter in their hands. Drone attacks bring collateral damages and the civilians are the ones that suffer most!
There is evidence that Al Qaeda is targeting children of personnel involved in Afghan war but v. v. is true
Dear Uncle Sam Programme the drones to kill the same number of militants everyday, so we can do the tally at the end of the year. Its is pain to keep a tab on the same news with different number of killings every other day. Thank you.
The US is getting better and better actionable ground intelligence from Pakistan lately. It is about time that the US should show some dollar bills to cash starved country. The aid must be directly linked to successful results.