US resume drone strikes in Pakistan as 4 die in attack
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Jan. 11, IRNA -- The United States Wednesday resumed drone strikes in Pakistan after a two-month lull and killed four people in a pre-dawn attack in the country’s tribal region, tribesmen in the area said.
There had been no US strike in Pakistan since mid-November after the relationship was badly hit by a NATO attack on two Pakistan border posts, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.
An American spy aircraft struck a house in North Waziristan tribal region early Wednesday and killed four people, locals said.
Residents said that two missiles were fired on the house in Miranshah, center of North Waziristan region.
The house caught fire after the strike, the first after the November 26 NATO strike on Pakistani posts.
Pakistan had vacated a base from the US military in Balochistan province.
Pakistan and American media reported last week that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is likely to resume drone strikes that were apparently halted following the deadly November 26 NATO airstrike on Pakistan’s border posts.
Local media reported that Pakistan and the United States have almost agreed on “fresh terms of engagements” to resume the drone attacks to target suspected al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan’s tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan.
They added that Pakistan has convinced the US to resume the drone strikes under two new conditions - the drone strikes should not be as frequent as they had been in the past and the CIA should narrow the stripe to be targeted by the aircraft under the “box formation” military approach.
Pakistan army and the Foreign Ministry had denied the report.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30760741
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