Mysterious missile strike kills 11 in NWA
Staff Report/Agencies

ISLAMABAD/Miran Shah—Atleast two foreign militants and nine local Taliban died while 12 others injured in a missile attack at a compound adjacent to a seminary in the area of Dandi Darpe Khail, North Waziristan on Friday.
According to locals, a drone plane fired missiles at houses adjacent to seminary belonging to renowned Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani in North Waziristan. This surgical strike left 2 foreign militants including 9 local Talibans dead.
While giving details, DG ISPR Major Gen Waheed Arshad told that Pakistani security forces are not involved in this incident. Besides, local administration is also probing into the incident.
On the other hand, US and NATO forces, operating in Afghanistan, also denied their involvement behind this missile attack. Pakistani villagers said a missile strike hit houses near a madrasa founded by an old friend of Osama bin Laden’s on Friday, killing at least five people.
They told Reuters a drone aircraft carried out the attack. The United States has carried out such operations in the past using drones, which Pakistan does not possess in its armory. The Pentagon issued a swift denial the U.S. military had conducted a strike, though spokesman Bryan Whitman said he could not speak for U.S. intelligence agencies that also operate the pilotless aircraft. A Pakistani military spokesman said he had heard there had been an explosion in a house but there had been no action by Pakistani forces. The sprawling religious school or madrasa near Miranshah, the main town in the Waziristan tribal region, was founded by veteran mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose ties to bin Laden go back to the 1980s jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
“A drone was flying very low and fired the missile. It destroyed three houses,” a Dandi Darpakheil village resident told Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities over U.S. operations in Pakistani territory. Several other villagers corroborated his account. “I saw human flesh scattered all over the area near the houses,” the villager said. The identity of the victims was not immediately known. There were unconfirmed reports earlier this year that the aging and infirm Haqqani had died, but his son Sirajuddin has emerged as a major militant figure in his place.

Pentagon denies involvement

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said the U.S. military did not carry out a missile strike on Friday that witnesses said killed at least five people near a religious school run by pro-al Qaeda mujahideen in Pakistan’s Waziristan region.
“There was no indication that that was any U.S. military asset,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman after speaking with U.S. military officials in Afghanistan. “Every indication was that there was no U.S. military involvement in this activity that you’ve seen,” he told reporters. Asked if the strike could have been launched by aircraft owned by another US.—Agencies