US missile strike kills 15 in Pakistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, June 19, IRNA -- A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles in Pakistan's North Waziristan region and killed at least 15 people, local tribesmen said.
The drone targeted a house near Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban militants near the Afghan border, they said.
Security officials claimed that the house was in the use of suspected militants. But locals said that identities of those killed were not clear.
Tribesmen said they saw three drones flying over the area before the attack and the aircraft were also hovering over the area after the attack.
The people could not move to the attack site fearing another strike by the U.S. drones.
The United States has increased drone strikes in Waziristan region after a Jordanian suicide bomber killed at least seven CIA agents at a U.S. base in Afghanistan’s Khost province in December.
The Jordanian bomber was shown in a video along with Pakistani Taliban Chief Hakimullah Mehsood, who the U.S. and Pakistan’s Interior Minister earlier believed to have been killed a in drone strike this year. But he appeared in another video.
Pakistan publicly oppose the U.S. drone strike but the U.S. says that it is an effective operation to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.
Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsood, wanted by the U.S. and Pakistan, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in August last year in South Waziristan.
Al Qaeda's No 3 Mustafa Abul al-Yazid, was also killed in a similar strike in North Waziristan last month.
The latest drone strike occurred as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, opened talks in Islamabad, officials said.
He will hold talks with Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and later both will address a joint news conference, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
He will also call on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, he said.
“The Foreign Minister and the Special Representative will discuss a whole range of bilateral issues, as well as review the ongoing sectoral meetings”.
These meetings are being held in Islamabad within the framework of Pakistan – U.S. Strategic Dialogue, which was initiated in March this year with the mutual desire to diversify and augment bilateral relations.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 1185197
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