Missile strike kills 13 in Waziristan

WANA—At least 13 people were killed while 16 other sustained serious injuries when a missile struck a house and madarssah here in South Waziristan. The missile targeted a house of Shero and a madarssah situated at Kaloosha village, Azam Warsik area of South Waziristan killing 12 and wounded several.
Most of the dead were Afghan students and also some foreign extremists. The attack took place at 2:00 am through US predator plane, Private TV Channel reported. Three guided missiles were fired from near Pak-Afghan border, according to local people. The blast shook the entire area and its voice was heard within area of several kilometers. According to local people, the foreigners including some Arabs were residing at a house where the missile struck but it could not be ascertained either any extremist leader are among the dead or not.
Abdullah, a local resident, said a loudly voice was heard at 2:00 am on night between Wednesday and Thursday and all people living in the area came out from their houses but that time it could not be confirmed where the incident took place. The eyewitness alleged that the missile was believed to have been fired by a U.S. pilotless drone. However, neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory.
Despite continues statement of US authorities that they respect sovereignty of Pakistan, an important US ally in war against terrorism, the U.S. forces have fired missiles at militants on the Pakistani side of the border several times in recent years, According to British news agency.
A missile strike early Thursday killed at least 12 people, most of them Arabs, in a Pakistani region known as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda militants, officials and residents said. Residents in Azam Warsak village in South Waziristan told AFP that a house was destroyed by a missile fired from a pilotless drone and the loud blast was heard miles (kilometres) away in the rugged valley.
US drones have launched several previous strikes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region targeting militants from Osama bin Laden’s network, although there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistani forces. A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan said neither it nor the separate NATO-headed force were involved in the strike. “We have no reports that any of our forces are involved,” coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher told.
Security officials said they had received a report that a “guided missile” fired from neighbouring Afghanistan had hit a house belonging to a local tribesman at about 2:00 am Thursday (2100 GMT Wednesday). “The death toll is now 12 to 13 people — three of the dead appear to be from Punjab (central Pakistani province where several militant groups are based) while the rest are Arabs,” a security official told AFP. At least five people were also injured in the attack, officials added.
South Waziristan is the base of Baitullah Mehsud, an Islamist warlord accused by Pakistani and US officials of links to Al-Qaeda and of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. The security officials said they had no information on who could have been targeted in the attack. The area is remote, and Pakistani troops have limited control in the lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal belt.
Pakistani officials do not confirm US strikes against Al-Qaeda-linked militants on its territory because of political sensitivities over sovereignty. Libyan militant and Osama bin Laden’s operational number three Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in a missile strike on January 29 in the neighbouring Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan.—Agencies