Drone fired two missiles at a house in Miranshah area of North Waziristan. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
According to details, at least six people were killed when a predator drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and a compound in Dargah Mandi village in North Waziristan, around 10 kilometres west of the main town of Miramshah in first attack late Wednesday night.
Six suspected militants were killed, four of whom were said to be of foreign descent. "Four of them were Uzbeks and two were Punjabi Taliban," said an intelligence official in Miramshah.
Officials said militants had parked their pick-up truck against an outer wall of the compound. “Both compound and truck were completely destroyed. Local informers told us that both are still on fire,” the intelligence official said.
This is the first drone attack of 2014, with the last drone strike taking place in Pakistan on December 26, 2013, in which four people were killed.
Second drone attack
At least 10 people were killed and four others were injured in a second drone strike early on Thursday in Dande Darpa Khel village in North Waziristan, Express News reported.
According to Express News correspondent, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fired six missiles.
"Three US drones fired six missiles on militants who had gathered to dig the debris of a compound," a local security official told AFP, adding missiles also hit two vehicles at the site.
Another security official confirmed the fresh US drone strike.
COMMENTS (107)
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Drone attacks are carried out by Pakistan themselves. Evidence? After the airport attack.
One strike a day keep the Taliban away.
Never thought that I will so desperately Welcome this bird again after opposing it for last few years. When Pakistani establishment fails to deter TTP, Drone is the only option left.
@Iqbal: You are very right but Sir as long as God fathers are around with their home made prescription No: 1. like “Godfather” figure for Pakistan's strategy of using jihadist proxies to exert influence in neighbouring countries, the 77-year-old retired general is still seen by some observers as offering a window into the mindset of the country's powerful military establishment."
WHERE IS THE HOPE? CAN ANY ONE HELP?
@Naeem Khan Mahattan,Ks:
Stop drawing silly conclusions that India started scaling down due to nuclear threat. India is not naive to go to battle without the full realization of it going nuclear. And thank your stars that India was matured enough or perhaps plain stupid wrong to let you off the hook after 26/11.
The express tribune newspaper is in public domain, it is not a newspaper where only Pakistani nationals are allowed. Why is it that you don't like Indian comments here? Is it because they destroy your world of illusions? If you cannot stand the heat then leave the kitchen.
Spewing venom unfortunately is all we regular Indians can do to show our dislike towards your country and its people for breeding such a violent society. All this started after 26/11. And shall never end.
I hope all people praising drones on here must face the mayhem of drone strike.
These people make me ashamed to be a Pakistani!
@Naeem Khan Mahattan,Ks: NK if you read all Indo-Pak war from independent source, It might surprise you that all those General of that time think exactly like you. They thought India will not react the way it react. And amazingly that thought process still in progress. Wow. Whole intelligentsia know that Pakistan can not use "N" against any country due to proximity & windfall of "N". And I don't think Pakistan has any capability to use it in any other sub-continent. Pakistan truly eaten grass to have this toy so they can puff their chest nothing else.
Sorry Pakistan loving people, it is bad news, the target was coomander Haji Gul of Haqani network & Afghan Taliban. I hope you keep the same excitement as if it was Pakistani Taliban,
Back with a bang!!!!
I opposed this madness. Only Pakistan has rights to do that !!! If tomorrow India starts the same thing will you allow them ???
@Zafar...it was MUZAKRAT...it was MAZAKRAT....landed where it was well known beforehand.
@Retrospect: it is so easy to fool people like u . its unblvable. conduct an operation in the name of ttp.. and u start welcoming drone attacks.
Good riddance! thank you americans! the citizens of karachi welcome you with open arms.
I only want to visit Pakistan to take the pictures of their national bird, drone, in action.
i am so happy to hear drone strike again...i read all comments... people of Pakistan are happy. cheer up guys...
Since 1947 FATA has enjoyed special status within Pakistan boundaries with criminals taking refuge there from crimes committed in Pakistan. Now time has come for the Pakistan to formally redraw its borders and declare FATA out of its boundaries. Border fencing should be done around FATA and check posts established. If any of agencies within FATA wishes to join Pakistan, it shall have to fully accept sovereignty and writ of the Government of Pakistan. Time has come.
Since the first drone attack people has been lauding the 'American assistance' to pak army. SInce then the situation has only worsened and will worsen further.
Our army and government have never been sincere in genuine peace efforts and that is why the situation is what it is today.
Dialogue is key to Peace.
I used to have reservations against the drones but now I am in support of them after what has happened in Karachi last week. It looks like our leadership is incapable of annihilating these barbarians, so at least the drones are a signal that there will be consequences for their actions. Of course, if they are sincerely calling for a cease fire, we must too.
@haroon: "A terrorist attack in Karachi does not justify giving another country the right to strike your country." Pakistan should take assistance from whomever available to fight its enemies. Thanks USA.
We should accept these drones by sad heart because unfortunately these drones attack are very important to eliminate those evil minded Talibans
@Shazia Bangash: That will happen too in the not-too-distant future. A nation without a strong economy has few options.
I salute to the engineers who built these drones.
THE DRONE - The national bird of Pak.
Welcome drone. Keep it up .Well done
Such an irony Just few month back there were different responses towards the drone strikes in same comment section, Its good in a way that now my friends are learning from their mistakes
@Haris:
Same to you.
@just_someone: What? Next these people who are paid to write comments here will be writing: "Please bring in your ground troops too and relieve our horrible government of its nuclear weapons"?
@haroon: Country men are more important than country rights!!!!! Country is just a piece of land, its people make it country.
@Logic Europe: But they forget Kashmir, right? India being the "big market" Money matters..Period!
@Sharjeel....Please hold back your crap....your solution to problem is not effective.....I can't believe some people are so dumb ........
@haroon: Really!!! I do not have words to express my disgust on your comment. Why don't you go & live with Talibans!
US had categorically stated on 05 Feb 2014 that it was stopping drone attacks on Pakistan's request. It so appears that Pakistan after Karachi attacks, has given the green signal to US to resume drone attacks on foreign terrorists and rightly so, as aerial bombardment would have caused more collateral damage than killing militants.
The only international flight coming to Pakistan these days is Drone....:)
Best news to come out of Pakistan in weeks!! More please!! And one on IK's farmhouse for good measure!
@Logic Europe: Cool down chump, time has changed and if you think India would dare to attack Pakistan again, you are not realistic. Don't forget when India was amassing it's troops on Pakistani border after some terrorist attack, Pakistan has started assembling it's nuclear assets because it is a matter of survival any more for Pakistanis. You should also know that when Indian government found out Pakistan's intention, the scale down of troops started right away on Indian side. India violated international law by attacking Pakistan in East Pakistan and it will never ever happen again, MARK MY WORDS FOR IT. By the way we are tired you Indians coming to our news papers and then spewing venom at Pakistanis, it create lots of hatred toward you people, don't you understand that. Stay with your papers or perhaps they don't give you any chance to publish your comments or may be you people are on government payroll to do this nasty, hateful work.
.... I am surprised by the comments... and the number of likes they have received...
Yes what happened in Karachi was awful! But these drone strikes are one of the reasons why terror spread in the country... Doing military operations and having these drones are not the answer!! What will you do if you come home one day from work and your house is in pieces with your wife and kids!! Or what would you do if your dad/brother/son/daughter went out to work/school and then never came back!! Will you be going to courts and asking for justice? The widow (Shumaila) of the man (Faheem) come into mind... She committed suicide cause she knew she would not get justice for the death of her husband by the murderer Raymond Davis...
An incident happens in our city and well all shout out to do operations in Waziristan and say "Welcome back" to drone strikes... What would you do if it happened to your home?? Then we call them the terrorists and us the victims....
What's the solution? SINCERE dialogue! We started "talks" and "negotiations" but were they really sincere? If the government truly had sincere intentions they would have firstly strictly stopped the drone strikes, told USA to mind their own business and let them handle it, (as now the USA is trying to do peace talks in Afghanistan). If we are sincere with out talks and address the real issues faced by some of these groups we will be able to differentiate the victims of these operations from the real terrorists who are working for a foreign agenda...
By resorting to violence, and dealing violence with violence... we are no different to those tribal people who we consider uncivilised terrorists
@haroon: agreed ,but this also not legal that any other country citizen(uzbek ,tajik,arab .chechen etc) reside in our country without any visa or documents in the name of tribal tradition (mahman nawazee)!
There hasn't been any drone attacks since 2013, but had the attacks stopped? In fact, while the drones were coming, the TTP were feeling the heat and did the whole 'negotiation' dance. Now that they've had time to recuperate, they have started wreaking havoc once again. Good thing the drones started again. Clear indication that Pakistan asked USA to do so. And good of them!
Big Welcome
foreign direct investment (FDI) of high quality. result will be a better pakistan.
The last 6 months clearly showed that there is no connection between terrorism and drone attacks as suggest by the genius Mr.Imran Khan. If this drone attack had occurred last week the PTI would have told the world that it was because of the drone attack. What a leader !!
Somebody put a tape on the mouths of the PTI cronies who will now tell us they were all innocent women and children.
its proved that only Pakistan Army is responsible for drone attacks, which are carried out only when pak Army requests to Americans for support
What does IK say now about drones. Will he block NATO trucks again?
as some one said "we still have some international flights"
Do more....
eliminate terrorism in Pakistan
Big thank you to USA. Did, what our political leadership should have requested publically
Thank you, Drone!
obliterate all these 10th century tribal cave men! its the drones and the americans who can do a better job at eliminating these monsters on our soil! the govt can well just make metro buses! thankyou USA
I get a feeling that this drone strike was from clear orders from the government of Pakistan.
This was a targeted attack on Uzbek outfit.
Good if Pakistan has finally understood who their enemy is.
A Big Thank You. Please continue to make our land pure from terrorists.
Now, we're talking!!!
And the madness continues
Believably Pakistan has its own drone facilities and when Pak Army is also about to launch an full fledge operation...At this stage engaging of targets by US, if not done with the consent of Pak army; it is fearsome.
Drones are violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
Dear people of Pakistan, you have only 2 choices: 1) eliminate these Taliban criminals by any means necessary and utilizing the support of any country necessary or 2) wait for them to come injure or kidnap or worse, you and your families in your own cities. The judiciary must not free any more captured criminals and the moratorium on death penalty must be lifted immediately.
@haroon:
No, we don't. The writ of govt doesn't exist in FATA and its justice system is governed by its own set of archaic laws (the century-old Frontier Crimes Regulation). I know this sounds drastic, but I think Pakistan in general would be better off by separating itself from FATA and let them govern themselves as they wish - the only contribution those lawless mountains make to our society are refugees, smuggling, extremists, drugs and weapons.
Good job drone.....at least it targets the single point...much less destruction than F16 bombardment....keep up the work...IK failed to deliver, he will always find excuses....first he said it was drone, now he will find something to blame on....avoid this mad person..
Recent attack on karachi may be a step to resume drone attacks.
I think Govt should openly announce and take help from Drones which will clearly mean that its not a challenge to the country's sovereignty
so what if you dont have this technology you can buy it temporarily to reduce the collateral damage
its a known fact that drones will cause less innocents to die compared to jets
but only problem is that its named to US if we own the drone attacks it should be fine
Bravo, here comer our national bird... Good shot, keep killing these terrorists ...
Imran Khan please be mature now. don't handshake with anti state elements. lets drone do his work accurately, please don't disturb.
I think the third force successfully changed the mindset of Pakistani people towards strikes. The have no self respect for the integrity of their country. If US drone have to kill Talibans, then why there are government/Army/Security agencies in our country? We are infected.
WOW... You are the best :). Give them the treatment they deserve. Also please bomb on those who support terrorists.
So happy to see you come back. Please don't go away this time. Eradicate the beasts from our land.
WELCOME BACK... Please please keep bombing them as our leaders seems unwilling to do so.
If they have killed the bad guys, then that's good........because this is the only language they understand.
Yes other country have every right to attack you if you out their citizens at risk It is people like you who create diversions to take the blame off terrorists . Don't forget India did attack you when attricities in Bangladesh were too much for the world to bear and don't remember youguslavia Albania and many other countries where outside forces intervene to teach the goons their lesson
National Bird of pakistan is back!
About 1 in 10 drone attacks can be called 'successful'. Drones alienate the tribal brothers from us and also invite further attacks on national installations.
All the hail saviour of Pakistan Hazrat Drone Shareef (R.A)!
Drones have better firing precision capability than our fighter planes especially in rough terrain and when you are very selective about your target. One should have no doubts that this attack is probably done with the approval of Pakistan Army to get the maximum required results. I am sure in 2 days time we gonna heard the news of some high level Taliban commander death because of this strike.
4 militants, as if
@numbersnumbers I am from Karachi and support Operation in Waziristan...but doesnt support this drone attack in any way...
We can say with confidence, we missed you! I hope PTI also learnt because Rustam Shah Mohmand recently stated that drones were better than PAF jet bombing. The casualties of PSF jet combings are in 70s where as with drones it is not even in double figures.
"Ababeels" are in action...
Let drones and PAF take care of them.
Thank you USA for keeping us safe. Obviously, our own government cant do the job!
If foreign mercenaries are difficult being expelled from Pakistan ,and keep on attacking Pakistani installations and citizens,drones are the best option to get them.And people of FATA should help authorities track and eliminate them once for all.Better accepting a little collateral damage,than seeing your children and neighbors on a daily basis ,and living under the fear of Ak-47,and religious fundamentalism(it is a shame to call them religious,as they are exactly the opposite of what Islam and other religions stand for)
the national bird of Pakistan is back......cheers
Welcome back ! Welcome back!
If Pakistan military and civilian leadership is not doing anything, at least let USA do something about these terrorists. The main TTP leadership was eliminated by US drones so they can also eliminate these Uzbeks. Thank you USA!
Thank you USA for bringing some justice to the perpetrators of our victims, especially when our government and the army continues to sleep with these scums.
good work. time to eliminate these criminals.
Last drone attack was done on 25.12.2013 not on 26th December. five people were killed on that attack.
Let us welcome "THE DEATH."
Go kill 'em mates!
Now Taliban will taste something different :)
Now that USA prisoner has been returned the USA is free to target the Haqqani - suspect Pakistan military might ask for help with the TTP as well.
Doesn't it prove conclusively that the drone has been used with full backing of Pakistan ? I am sure many requests must have gone to US for this happen.
Thankyou US!
End of "MUZAKRAT " , this cancer needs surgical treatment with removal of adjacent healthy tissue(supporting molvees) !
We need more now.
Thank you, USA.
Welcome. Whether some one agrees or not - drones always yield big name militants and bombardment by our army never has big names to it, just the numbers -
Welcome back. We need more of these on daily basis. After the two attacks at Karachi airport I have completely lost faith in out security system. Let the Americans, India and Israel sort out the Frankenstein we have created. We have failed miserably and no wonder we are a failed state.
It is about time. Under the prevailing conditions we need many more of these.
Thank God y'all are back!
Stop the madness
After Karachi terrorist attack, many Pakistanis would probably say "Welcome Back"!
One cas say with confidence that these drones are doing a better job than our govt. Where are all the haters now?
Now I am convinced that these drone strikes are in connivance with the Pakistani establishment. A terrorist attack in Karachi does not justify giving another country the right to strike your country. Do you even consider the Tribal Areas as a part of your country or not?
we welcome the resumption of drone attacks.