Militant commander, 2 others killed in Wana bomb blast

Pakistan drone crashes in same region due to technical fault.

PESHAWAR: A bomb explosion Friday killed at least three people including a local militant commander in South Waziristan, security officials said. The blast took place in a vegetable market in Wana.

"According to our information, a bomb at the office of local Taliban commander Maulvi Abbas's brother in the vegetable market went off, killing Abbas and two others including his son," a local security official told AFP.

Four people sustained injuries in the blast, which has not been so far claimed by any group or individual.

Another local security official also confirmed the attack and casualties.

Maulvi Abbas, who had close links with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was a close confidant of senior Taliban commander Nek Muhammad, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2004.

Muhammad and Abbas had come under sharp criticism in the past for harbouring Uzbek, Tajik and other Central Asian militants.

Abbas and his fighters left South Waziristan after Maulvi Nazir became commander of militants in the region and launched a campaign against them for harbouring the "foreigner".

However, Abbas returned to the region last year after reaching a deal with Nazir, who was wounded in a suicide attack in the main market of Wana last month.

Nazir and North Waziristan commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur carry out attacks in Afghanistan, where they oppose the presence of US and NATO troops.

They are understood to be close to the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban blamed for some of the most high-profile attacks in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's drone crashes

A Pakistani reconnaissance drone has crashed in South Waziristan after developing a technical fault, security officials said on Friday.

The unmanned military aircraft was on a surveillance mission when it came down on Thursday night in Azam Warsak area, west of Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan tribal region, a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another official confirmed the crash and said that Taliban militants surrounded the site and later took possession of the wreckage.

Pakistan manufactures its own small drones which the army, navy and air force use for reconnaissance and do not have the lethal capability of US drones which target militant hideouts in the country's tribal regions.