PESHAWAR: At least nine people have been killed in a suspected US drone strike in Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Eight suspected militants of German nationality are said to have been killed in the attack, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Western security officials have been warning that they believe a group of individuals in northern Pakistan were connected to a plot to attack targets in Europe.
According to details, the drone fired two missiles on a house near Bilal Mosque of the Mir Ali market. Two people were also injured in the attack. People of the area have reportedly cleared the rubble of the destroyed home without any support of the administration.
Recent reports reveal that the United States’ military is secretly diverting aerial drones from Afghanistan to escalate a CIA-led campaign against militants in Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Government implicated
According to an editorial in The Express Tribune:
As far as the drone attacks are concerned, it really is no secret that in many cases the aircraft have taken off from bases inside Pakistan, bases in the US of American forces, or partially in their use, and that such an arrangement was obviously agreed to by the government as well as the military.
Taliban respond
Officials say the bullet-riddled bodies of three men were recently found at the side of a road in North Waziristan, killed by suspected Pakistani Taliban militants in apparent retaliation for recent US drone strikes in the area.
Public against drone strikes
A recent survey shows nine out of every ten people in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan oppose the US military and drone campaign to pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban in their region.
The public opinion survey (available here), conducted by the New America Foundation and Terror Free Tomorrow, interviewed a thousand FATA residents across 120 villages in all seven tribal Agencies of FATA.
Nearly 70 per cent of the respondents wanted the Pakistani military alone to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the tribal areas.
Polls conducted on The Express Tribune website show similar results. In July, readers were asked if drone attacks in Fata were justified. A majority (64 per cent) of the responses were ‘No.’ When asked again whether they were ‘for or against drone strikes?’ in September, 68 per cent of the respondents said they were against them.
Are you for or against drone strikes in FATA?
For: 46
Against: 101
Total: 147 (September 21, 2010)
Are drone attacks in FATA justified?
Yes: 68
No: 119
Total: 187 (July 18, 2010)
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