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U.S. drone strikes kill 14 in Pakistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Jan 1, IRNA -- U.S. drone aircraft Saturday rained missiles into Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region and killed nearly 14 people and injured three others, officials in the region said.

They said that all those killed in three strikes in two hours were local Taliban militants.

The strikes were carried at Spinwam area, some 30 kilometers from Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan. The area is just five kilometers away from the Afghan border, according to local tribesmen.

In the first strike, the drone hit a vehicle at Mandakhel village and killed 4 people. Four missiles were fired in the strike.

In the second strike four people killed when missiles hit a base of the Taliban at Ghurishkai village, killing five people. The missiles also struck a vehicle when five militants arrived there for rescue efforts, officials said. All five, members of the Taliban group of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, died at the scene. Officials said that two foreigners were among those killed.

It is the second strike in two days in the same region.

On Friday a drone strike killed at least four people when missiles struck a vehicle in the border town of Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan tribal region.

The U.S. has stepped up strikes in North Waziristan tribal region in recent days, which the U.S. considers as the launching pad for attacks on the foreign troops across the border into Afghanistan.

Over 40 people have been killed in series of drone strikes in North Waziristan this week.

Pakistan publicly criticizes the U.S. drone strikes but it is widely believed that there is understanding between the two countries. The government denies any understanding.

Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday strongly condemned U.S. drone strikes in the tribal regions and said these are counter-productive.

'We have told the world and the United States that this technology must be given to us so we take actions on our own,' Gilani told the National Assembly.

Earlier lawmakers from the tribal regions condemned the drone strikes and asked the government to take serious note of the attacks.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30164013