N Waziristan attack: Six militants die in latest drone strike

The strike took place in the Degan area of North Waziristan.

MIRAMSHAH:

Six suspected militants were killed on Saturday in a drone strike targeting their compound and vehicle in North Waziristan.

“The drone fired four missiles at the [militants’] compound and vehicle,” a security official told The Express Tribune. He informed that the militants were leaving the compound when they were targeted, adding that their vehicle was completely destroyed in the strike.

The latest strike took place around 9am in the Degan area of Datta Khel, 35 kilometres west of North Waziristan Agency’s main town Miramshah.

A security official quoted by AFP said several drones were flying in the area at the time of the attack. According to a local tribesman, as many as four drones were airborne creating panic among residents.

Local sources claimed the militants targeted by the strike were foreign fighters. They informed that the militants had built a compound in a thicket.

“It was a small house, built using mud and hay,” they added, echoing security officials’ reports that the militants were leaving the compound in their vehicle when they were attacked.

The sources revealed the area was surrounded by other militants following the strike. They added that the militants removed charred remains of those killed by the strike from the destroyed vehicle and shifted them to an undisclosed location.

They confirmed the district is a bastion of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur, adding that the Haqqani network maintains a presence in Degan as well.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP. INDEPENDENT CONFIRMATION OF THE REPORT WAS NOT POSSIBLE.)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2012.