Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

US missile strikes kill 15 in North, South Waziristan: officials

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Jan 24, IRNA - At least seven people were killed, most of them foreigners, in a suspected US missile strike in Waziristan, bringing to 15 the number of killed in such attacks on Friday, officials said.

"At least seven people were killed, dozens wounded. The majority of those killed were foreigners," said security officials employing a term usually used to refer to al Qaeda militants.

"Two missiles fired by a suspected US drone hit a house in Wana," a senior security official told AFP, referring to the main town in South Waziristan district.

It was the second suspected US missile attack in northwest Pakistan on Friday, just hours after eight people were killed in North Waziristan.

Friday's suspected US missile strikes were the first since US President Barack Obama took office in Washington and came one day after he appointed veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Soon after the blast in the Gangikhel neighbourhood of western Wana, electricity supplies went down and the area plunged into darkness, local officials said.

Militants immediately surrounded the site of the attack and barred locals from venturing close.

Wana is also the main stomping ground of Maulvi Nazir, a key militant commander accused by the United States of recruiting and sending fighters to Afghanistan to attack US and NATO forces.
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Local officials said the target was a guest house owned by a militant.

EndNews / IRNA / News Code 316452