North Waziristan: US drone strike kills 21 ‘Haqqani men’

Among those targeted in the attack were members of the Haqqani network.

PESHAWAR:

A pre-dawn US drone strike is said to have killed at least 21 militants belonging to the Haqqani network in a village in North Waziristan Agency on Wednesday. Seven others were injured in the attack.  Local people, however, said the death toll was 25.

Residents in Miramshah reported hearing two huge blasts a minute apart as they were waking up for sehri. They said the attack took place near Gora Qabrisitan in Miramshah Killay, just half a kilometer away from Miramshah town, the agency’s headquarters. One of them told The Express Tribune that they had seen 25 coffins being buried, and some of the corpses were of the fighters killed in clashes with Nato forces in Afghanistan.

However, an intelligence official in Miramshah told The Express Tribune that the attack occurred in Machis Killay, which is approximately a kilometer away from the Miramshah Bazaar. (WITH ADDITIONAL IN PUT FROM AFP)





Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2011.