Within 24 Hours: Three suspected militants killed in drone attacks

Seven militants were killed in two drone strikes earlier.

DI KHAN:

Three suspected militants were killed when two missiles were fired at a vehicle travelling in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan Agency, officials said.

A security official who confirmed the strike told The Express Tribune that the vehicle was travelling in the Paye Khel village of Dattakhel tehsil when a US drone hit it. “Two foreigners and their local driver was killed in the attack,” the official said. However, he did not provide further details.

The strike was the third that took place in less than 24 hours. An independent count by the The Express Tribune shows that more than 20 suspected militants have been killed in drone strikes that gathered pace since the Chicago summit. In two drone strikes earlier, seven suspected militants were killed in Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan Agency, officials said.

In the first attack, four missiles were fired at an under-construction house in Esokhel village, Mir Ali. The house belonged to a local tribesman Balbal Khan, an official said. “Five foreign militants were killed,” the official said, adding that two missiles were initially fired at the house a few minutes past mid-night while two more missiles were fired at 12:48 am, targeting the same building almost thirty minutes later, he told The Express Tribune.

However, just ten minutes later another drone struck a vehicle in Khushali village, five kilometres west of Mir Ali bazaar. Their identities could not be verified immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2012.