2 Suspected US Missile Strikes in Pakistan Kill 22
By VOA News
31 October 2008
Intelligence officials in Pakistan say two separate suspected U.S. missile strikes Friday killed at least 22 people in northwestern Pakistan, near the Afghan border.
In the first attack, officials say at least 15 people died when two missiles struck a house near Mir Ali village in North Waziristan. The strike appears to have targeted a mid-level al-Qaida militant, Abdur Rehman Abu Atasha, believed to be Iraqi. Intelligence officials and local militants say he was killed, but that has not been confirmed.
In the second strike, two more missiles were fired into a house in South Waziristan, near Wana, from what is believed to be a U.S. unmanned (drone) aircraft. Local officials say at least seven people were killed.
The strikes come just two days after Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador to formally protest U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory. The number of strikes has increased over the last two months.
Earlier Friday, Pakistani officials said a suicide bomber killed at least nine people, including himself, outside the office of a top police chief in northwestern Pakistan.
At least five police officers and three civilians were among those killed in Friday's attack in the town of Mardan. More than 25 people were wounded.
Mardan's police chief, Akhtar Ali Shah, told reporters he heard an explosion outside his office as he was about to leave. The blast took place close to members of the police chief's convoy. He was not hurt.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mardan is near the area where Pakistani forces have been battling Taliban and al-Qaida militants for months.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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