US drones fired off a volley of missiles targeting al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt yesterday, killing 12 militants in the third deadly strike in 24 hours, security officials said.
The pre-dawn attack was directed at the Haqqani network, officials said, a Pakistan-based group with links to both al-Qaeda and the Taliban and one of the toughest foes for foreign forces in the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
This month alone, a surge in US missile strikes has killed 76 militants in the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, an area Washington has branded a global headquarters of al-Qaeda and the most dangerous spot on Earth.
With Pakistan struggling to cope with devastating floods that have hit 21 million people in the country’s worst humanitarian disaster, Islamist militant violence has picked up in recent weeks with a wave of major bombings.
The Taliban last week threatened Pakistani security forces with more suicide attacks to avenge the US missile strikes.
“Several US drones fired eight missiles at two militant compounds early this morning, killing at least 12 militants,” a senior security official said. “The missile strike targeted militants of the Haqqani network.”
The barrage hit the village of Dargah Mandi on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district where US missiles also killed 15 militants in two separate attacks on Tuesday.
“We have no reports about the presence of any high-value target among those killed, all of those targeted were Pakistani Taliban attached to the Haqqani group,” an intelligence official based in Miranshah said.
Created by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and run by his son Sirajuddin, the network is linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and has become a thorn in the side of US-led forces trying to bring security to eastern Afghanistan.
Residents said the targeted houses had been rented out to rebels by local tribesman Bacha Khan and were destroyed in the attacks, which caused panic in the village.
“As the US drones came over the village, people started shouting and running here and there shouting ‘run, drones have come,’” a tribesman said, requesting anonymity for fear militants might harm him.
The intelligence official put the number of missiles fired as 10, saying several drones came from all directions, while another said three miliants were also wounded in the strike.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS