Unending campaign: Drone strike kills 11 suspected militants in North Waziristan
"The drone fired eight missiles on the compound at around 2:00am (2100 GMT) on Saturday killing eleven members of the Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban," a senior security official in the region told AFP.
The official said the dead included two "important" commanders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, but he refused to reveal their identities. An official had earlier given a lower death toll of eight dead.
The strike took place in the Mada Khel suburb of Data Khel, a town that lies around 22 miles (36 kilometres) west of Miramshah. The army's operation against the TTP, Zarb-e-Azb is still continuing in North Waziristan.
The area has been used as a hideout for militants of all stripes - including al Qaeda and TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Chinese Uighurs.
The strike comes two days after another strike in which at least 20 people were killed in Data Khel.
US drone strikes have picked up since the military launched its offensive in Waziristan in mid-June with at least four strikes reported since June 12.
The army says more than 400 militants and 25 soldiers have been killed in the operation so far, and Miramshah town close to being declared as cleared. However, the area remains off-limits to journalists, making it impossible to independently verify the number and identity the dead.
COMMENTS (18)
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@Amna Rizvi: Not any more. It was shut down after the Salala incident. I gather they are now based in Afghanistan.
good work...saved previous lives of our army personnel..yes the negative side of drones are the soverginty thing but just look at the positive side..it always kills terrorists who otherwise would come in our main cities and would kill us .. so its either this or that !!
These drones take off from Pakistani bases. Our Army has given them permission, but they lie with us and deny it.
You can see http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/12/15/cia-drones-quit-pakistan-site-but-us-keeps-access-to-other-airbases/ for proof
Dear ET moderators,
My below mentioned comment seems to have been blocked by moderators for no apparent reason. If it was my reply to Indian that lead to this then am really disappointed that you guys have no qualms approving/publishing IndianDude irrelevant,off topic and venomous comment against Pakistan whereas you blocked my factual reply given to him in an equally mocking tone.
INS Sindhurakshak a Russian submarine indeed sank after an explosion on-board due to incompetency of Indian navy sailors taking them all down to bottom of the sea,its lying on sea bed even today as Indians don't have tech & it cost alot to salvage subs at depth . This accident even lead to Indian Naval chief resignation.
So as you can see my comment was completely factual unlike his venomous comment so kindly do the needful and approve/publish my comment. I won't mind if you edit/omit some words to make it acceptable to ET rules/standards as long as the comment doesn't loose its essence.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ @Indiandude
You guy should keep on relabelling Russian submarines as Indian, which go to bottom of the sea and never come back to surface and take down all the sailor with them to their watery grave(INS Sindhurakshak - 14 Aug 2013).. Indian navy is having a bad patch with more then dozen accidents to their credit since Sindhurakshak which lead to even naval chief Admiral Joshi resigning..
@Kamran
My bad, at least both of them look similar,intimidating,slim & sleek, Pakistan should create a wish list and send it to US which should include drones ,cobra (& maybe couple of Apaches). US should realize that after all we are also fighting a common enemy that they were fighting in Afghanistan,so if they can share any military hardware that is helpful in smoothly achieving results saving our soldiers lives then they shouldn't hesitate and share such hardware with us.
@Azeez China is trying to copy nearly all types of US drone with varying degree of success. Sold Pterodactyl armed drones to Saudis just recently.
@Dr.A.K.Tewari: You have a zilch knowledge, Sir. The American administeration does not respect nor has any regard for the sovereignty of other Nations. The German Government is the first to declare the CIA chief as person non grata and asked him to leave the German soil. The USA has been the serial violator of German laws. Pakistan has the status of a client State and its Government should stop this duplicity game with its people.
Rex Minor
The Drone technology have been especially developed for those who want to enter i n the heaven without any midway halt , In Pakistan it's demand will be unmanageble therefore Drones can't be supplied to Pakistan .
Why Drone attack on the teretory of a sovereign country is not subjected to an international condemnation ?
To my knowledge in fact it is an international state of art especially designed to curb the international terrorism as per resolution passed at the floor of UN general assembly . Since UN don't have it's own military ,it take the help of member countries . Drone is also operated by an international team of experts ,it's mode of operation and target fixing process is well recorded and can be reproduced if required . That is why Drone strike is being conducted without any hesitation ,
Drones are cheaper than army operation. They are precise and very lethal. Above all not a single IDP has shown any objection to Drone attacks.
Drones are requested by Pakistan Millitary.
@Imran Qadri: name any Chinese armed drones,China don't have the capacity to make armed drones. Only Americans have this technology.
@ImranQadri, Pakistan does not have any Apache helicopters which are very expensive and only approved for certain countries. What the Pakistan Air Force is using are Cobra AH-1 models acquired in the the 1980's. The US sent Pakistan 12 more used AH-1's in 2012 at Pakistan's request as the infrastructure to maintain them was already in place in PK.
Pak will share the technology to china is the reason behind denial of drone tech to pak
@peshawari ...Where are those Taliban apologists who used to condemn these drones in the past?... One of them, imran khan was caught watching 2nd day of ind-eng match on tv, on live star sports!!!LOL!
@Imran Qadri ..If US can’t trust us with this technology despite us doing all the dirty work for them all these years since cold war day then Pakistan should try getting some Chinese armed drones and maybe like JF17, with Chinese help should start indigenously manufacturing these drones here in Pakistan... I agree, the chinese should also form joint venture to produce water powered cars which was endorsed by none other than the greatest genius produced by pakistan, the father of nuclear bumb DR. A.Q.Khan. In fact the pakistani made jf17 can even have a water powerd engine.
If US can't trust us with this technology despite us doing all the dirty work for them all these years since cold war day then Pakistan should try getting some Chinese armed drones and maybe like JF17, with Chinese help should start indigenously manufacturing these drones here in Pakistan.
Its high time US administration share with us some armed drones which we could our self use against terrorist during operation in Waziristan so that we don't have to put our Apache helicopter and fighter jet pilots in harms way and with precision missiles can carry out strikes with minimum collateral damage.