5 foreigners among 14 killed in US strikes

MIRAN SHAH—At least 14 people including 5 foreigners were killed when Afghanistan based US drones fired 4 missiles in Miran Shah, North Waziristan.
British news agency quoted sources as saying US drones by violating Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity fired 4 missiles out of which a missile struck house of local tribe man Mira Gul in Garyoom, area of North Waziristan, killing 14 people on the spot. 5 foreigners were also among the deceased, the news agency reported.
Political administration and security forces while confirming the missiles strike and death of 14 people in North Waziristan have said that the missiles was fired by Afghanistan based US drones. Besides destroying a house of local tribe man, the missiles strike also injured 5 people. It may be recalled here that dozens people have lost their lives in strikes and incursion by Afghanistan based US and allied forces in country’s tribal areas during last few weeks.
On the other hand, President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement strongly condemned the missiles strike by US forces in country’s tribal areas saying the continuous attack is distressing Pakistan’s effort to combat menace of terrorism and extremism. The strikes by US forces in Pakistan can also harm Pak-US relations, he said while asking US authorities to stop missile strikes immediately. Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles into a Pakistani tribal region on Friday, killing 12 people, including five foreigners, in an area known as a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.
Pakistani officials said the attack targeted a house in a remote village on the border between North and South Waziristan, where Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally, has been bottled up by Pakistani forces since early this year. Frustrated by fighters from Pakistan fuelling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and fearful of al Qaeda regrouping, U.S. forces have intensified missile attacks by pilotless drones since early September, security sources say.
“We have reports that 12 people were killed, including five foreigners,” a paramilitary official told Reuters by telephone from the area. It was unclear if the dead foreigners included Arabs, who usually signify an al Qaeda presence. A relative and aides to Mehsud, and Pakistani government and paramilitary officials said the attack happened at around 1:45 a.m. (2045 GMT), and up to four missiles were fired. “There were two drones flying in our area and they fired four missiles,” a paramilitary official in the area said. “They were American.” Missile-armed drones are primarily used by U.S. forces in the region, though the United States seldom confirms drone attacks. Pakistan does not have any. Mehsud, who was accused of being behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December, married a second wife in a ceremony held earlier this week in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. “Around 50 guests attended the marriage. They were all his close friends. It was a simple ceremony,” close aide Mufti Wali-ur-Rehman told Reuters.
His new wife is a madrasa-schooled daughter of a cleric from his own Mehsud tribe. Mehsud has no children by his first wife. Under Islamic custom a man can take up to four wives. CIA Director Michael Hayden told a Washington think tank on Thursday that U.S. pressure in Pakistan’s borderlands aimed to put al Qaeda “off balance,” and said the region represented the greatest terrorism threat to the United States.

—Agencies