After a brief hiatus, CIA-operated drones resumed sorties in Pakistan’s tribal regions. On Tuesday, two strikes by US pilot-less aircraft in South Waziristan Agency killed at least 15 suspected militants, officials said.
In the first strike, which took place in Uthgalai village of Barmal Tehsil, a drone fired four missiles at a vehicle. “The target of the attack was fighters of Commander Maulvi Nazir. Eight suspected militants were killed in the attack,” an intelligence official told The Express Tribune.
Sources added that two top militant commanders of the Mullah Nazir Group – identified as Ameer Hamza Tojikhel and Shamsullah – were among the dead. Both were believed to be key members of the group. The bodies were shifted to the Angoor Adda area.
Mullah Nazir, who is allied with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful militant commander in the neighbouring North Waziristan Agency, sends fighters into Afghanistan to attack US and NATO troops. However, like Bahadur, he is considered pro-Pakistan because he does not attack Pakistani troops fighting homegrown insurgents from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
It was unclear whether the strike would have any immediate impact on Nazir’s policy of not attacking Pakistani troops.
In the second attack, a vehicle was targeted in the Sra Khawra area of Shawal – which is on the border between South and North Waziristan tribal regions. An official said that seven people were killed, but their identities could not be ascertained.
US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders privately supported US drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the US alliance is hugely unpopular. (With additional input from AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2012.
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