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Suspected US missiles strike kills 28 in Pakistan's South Waziristan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Feb 14, IRNA -- A suspected US drone on Saturday fired two missiles into a home in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency, killing at least 28 people, local tribesmen in the area said.

The strike in a small village Nasar Khel in Waziristan hit a house and guest house of a local tribesman Roshan Mehsood, they said. Both buildings were completely destroyed, they said.

This is the third USmissile strike in Waziristan region since the Obama administration took over on January 20, and fifth this year.

The latest strike hit an area controlled by Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of Pakistani Taliban movement.

Local sources said that Uzbek nationals and locals were staying in the house when hit by American missiles.

They said that Taliban militants cordoned off the area and pulled the bodies out of the rubble.

Pakistan was expecting the Obama administration will halt missile strikes on the tribal regions but three strikes in less than a month reflects that there is no change in the policy.

The strikes came few days after US special envoy Richard Holbrooke visited Pakistan and the Pakistani leaders again called for halt to missile strikes.

A senior US lawmaker said on Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base inside that country.

The disclosure is seen an embarrassment for the Pakistani government and will complicate its counter-terrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a US official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

Pakistani officials say that the US carried out around 50 drone missile strikes last year and that in most cases civilians are killed in the attacks.

Analysts say that attacks from the suspected American drone have seen sharp increase over the past few months ahead of the arrival of more American troops in Afghanistan.

The US plans to send around 30,000 more soldiers this year to increase the number of its troops to almost 60,000.

The US believes that attacks on its and NATO troops are planned by militants in the Pakistani tribal regions.

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