• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Taliban commander, 4 others killed in US drone strike in Pakistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, June 28, IRNA -- Latest strikes of American drone aircraft killed a Pakistani Taliban commander and four other people in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region Sunday, locals said.

They said that the drone fired missiles on a house at Tapi Tuljhel, some two kilometers from Miranshah, the center of North Waziristan at 5 pm.

Officials said that those killed were belonged to a Taliban group, led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar.

Locals said that Taliban removed the dead bodies and injured to an undisclosed location. Some local sources said that the drone shelled a religious seminary at a time when suspected militants had been holding a meeting.

Express TV reported that Taliban Commander Hamza Mehsood was among those killed in the strike.

It is the third US drone strike in North Waziristan in less than three weeks.

On June 11, US pilotless drone aircraft struck a house and killed at least 10 people. A day earlier US drone aircraft targeted a compound of suspected militants in Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan and killed at least three people.

The US has intensified drone strikes in North Waziristan in recent months despite outcry against the attacks by international rights groups and Pakistan.

This month the Amnesty International said the US use of drones to target insurgents in northwest Pakistan has generated considerable resentment inside Pakistan.

Amnesty International in a report called on the US to clarify its chain of command and rules of engagement for the use of drones and ensure proper accountability for civilian casualties.

Pakistani leaders insist that drone aircraft kill civilians and that it also badly affect anti-terror war.

Washington has refused to halt drone strike while considering the use of the technology as effective to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsood was killed along with his wife in South Waziristanj in August last year when US drone fired missiles at the house of his father- in-law where he was staying at the time of the strike.