US Drone Strikes Kill 7 Militants in Pakistan
by VOA News December 26, 2014
Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected U.S. drone strikes have killed at least seven militants.
The strikes early Friday targeted compounds of Taliban and Uzbek militants in Pakistan's remote North Waziristan region.
They come as Pakistan ramps up its anti-terror strategy in the wake of a December 16 Pakistani Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar which killed nearly 150 people, most of them children.
Drone strikes are largely unpopular in Pakistan, where many consider them a violation of the country's sovereignty. But the U.S. insists these attacks are effective to eliminate militants in areas inaccessible to the Pakistani military.
Also Friday, officials said security forces had killed the alleged planner of the Peshawar school attack.
The head of the police in the Khyber tribal region said security forces, acting on intelligence information conducted a raid late Thursday night and fought a gunbattle with the militant commander known as Saddam and his accomplices.
Saddam was killed in the hour-long shootout, while his six accomplices were injured and arrested. They are being interrogated.
Police say Saddam helped plan the school attack and was also involved in attacks on health workers giving polio vaccinations in the tribal areas.
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