PESHAWAR: A US drone strike killed four militants in the north west on Friday, the third such attack in 48 hours against Taliban hotbeds in Waziristan near the Afghan border, officials said.
The drone fired two missiles into a vehicle as it drove through Darpakhel village about four kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town in the district of North Waziristan, security officials told AFP.
"The US drone fired two missiles," one of the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
"Four militants were killed in the attack, they were all in the vehicle," he added. The identities of the dead were not clear, but the village is a stronghold for militants fighting against US troops in Afghanistan.
Covert CIA drones are the chief US weapon against Taliban and al Qaeda militants who use the lawless tribal areas as launchpads for attacking US troops in Afghanistan and plotting attacks on the West.
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".
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 destabilize the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
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@a muslim: and what happens to those families that these terrorists kill? Live by the fire and you die by the fire is what happens to the terrorists !!!
@Hatim:
Do you understand the difference between war and law-enforcement?
In war, you shoot first and ask questions later. If a combatant expects mercy, justice, and humane treatment, he needs to put down his weapons and surrender. But until the enemy does that, the primary objective of war is to kill, disrupt, and demoralize him. Every single chance you get.
Whether you like it or not, this is how all nations fight wars.
pakistanis should appreciate the US doing the dirty work for them.
Hatim I dare you to kill an American murderer while he is sleeping–you will be charged with murder yourself. Innocent until proven guilty. All these deaths are illegal and inhumane. But “justice” is only a pretext for American aggression. If they really believed in justice they would have bought OBL to court regardless of the consequences. Recommend3
Ok hatim, we take your point. From now on all missiles will have an alarm clock strapped tp the nose-cone.
Uncle Sam.
@ Living as a Fool - let's for a second ignore the fact that you are not very well spoken and an irrational terrorist supporter and just address your points one by one:
How can you prove something is illegal? Well if you want to get into the laws of physics and uncertainty principles, you'll know that we can't be certain. If you want to go that route, please explain to me why Qadri has not yet been executed? You probably support Qadri because you are a terrorist supporter. There are plenty of poor people in the world. Many live in Africa. Do you see them becoming terrorists? Being poor and downtrodden is the reality of 99% of Pakistanis. If you want to blame something for creating terrorists in Pakistan it should be our inept and corrupt government and our shameless, cowardly military and Intelligence Agencies who do nothing but suck the blood out of Pakistanis on a daily basis. Go read all the reports on the efficacy of the drones. They have a 90%+ accuracy rate. Once you explain to me how to stop terrorism more effectively than using drones, we'll have a chance to debate. Please improve your grammar, your logic, and get rid of your extremist tendencies.Obama is going to announce the elimination of Mulla Omar on Thanksgiving and elimination of Al Zawahiri at the State of Union Address to the Nation.
@Babloo: Hidding in a bunker, before they to RIP with the terrorists.
Death from the sky. Sudden, violent and precise. Long live the Drone!
Looks like Pakistan has given up all responsibility of tackling terrorists to the Americans...
@Hatim, how about you dare the Paki Army and the ISI to take control of their own territory. If they can't, then dare them to reject US aid and military equipment. Otherwise, this is just empty braggado...
This is war. The killings are legal because there has been a declaration of war from both sides - NATO and the jihadis. The drone strikes are moral and humane because putting down a rabid dog is the humane thing to do. When you have deceitful allies, you have to act with deadly force when you can.
@Living as a fool
Terrorist sympathizers like you always come out of the woodwork whenever terrorists are taken out. You can keep on whining, drones will keep on blasting.
gift from grossman....he is really GROSS.
@Zafar Karachiwala: Cancer is basically you type of mindset, who doesn't differentiate right and wrong. How you proof an illegal act as legal? @Pragmatist: Stop this insanes assertion that every person killed by the drones is a terrorist. When someone's family dies in these drone, he ultimatly become a terrorist. Shame on you people and this type of think who support these illegal and Extrajudicial killings. @Aamir: and is it a Newton's law of motion that "Drones don’t just attack someone willy nilly" and from where, how they got membership in terrorist groups, how do you know ????
those so called "innocents" dont think a minute before killing innocent pakistanis;if usa has wanted to get osama,they could have fired a few missiles into abbotabad and not take a chance with their own soldiers; but they cared about civilians so even put their citizens in harm's way to potect pakistani citizens.even with all the venom that pakistanis direct against them,has not incited them into a rash behaviour. watch out,the next time one of those innocents is going to blow himself in your town killing (god forbid) your children .
I dare you to kill an American murderer while he is sleeping--you will be charged with murder yourself. Innocent until proven guilty. All these deaths are illegal and inhumane. But "justice" is only a pretext for American aggression. If they really believed in justice they would have bought OBL to court regardless of the consequences.
Where is foreign office ? Where are claims of soveriginity violation ? Where is allegation rejection department ?
@John B: You are right. The US pressure is bearing fruit. More and more cooperation even with all the huff and puff of the establishment for Pakistani public consumption. Soon some of the money would be released to Pakistan from the West. The West needs actionable infor and successful results and not mere talk from Pakistan before any aid.
@T The proof is the membership of these terrorists in terrorist groups and their participation in terrorist acts.
Drones don't just attack someone willy nilly.
"the village is a stronghold for militants fighting against US troops in Afghanistan". . And that is precisely why your never going to convince American's that you are an ally - suggest you take control of your territory or adjust your concept of sovereignty.
@T: The onus lies on you to prove they weren't. When you treat cancer you kill every cell that exists in the tumor.
The surgery carries on. If you disagree then better follow it up with RIP Pakistan. You decide whether you kill the cancer or the body. The body in this case is Pakistan.
@Zafar Karachiwala: what proves there were terrorists?
inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon. These are just extrajudicial killings of innocent muslims and nobody is protesting because victims are the muslims.
Bomb Bomb Bomb the terrorists back to the stone age.
Who said PAK is not cooperating ?