Suspected US missiles killed 18 people on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border, security officials said, the first attacks on the al-Qaeda stronghold since US President Barack Obama took office.
At least five foreign militants were among those killed in the strikes by unmanned aircraft on Friday in two parts of the frontier region, an intelligence official said without naming them. There was no information on the identities of the others.
Pakistan’s leaders had expressed hope Obama might halt the strikes, but few observers expected he would end a tactic that US officials say has killed several top al-Qaeda operatives and is denying the terrorist network a long-held safe haven.
The US has staged more than 30 missile strikes inside Pakistan since last August — a barrage seen as a sign of frustration in Washington over Islamabad’s efforts to curb militants that the US blames for violence in Afghanistan and fears could be planning attacks on the West.
Pakistan publicly protests the strikes in the northwest as violations of its sovereignty that often kill civilians and undermine its own campaign against terrorists that have also launched bloody attacks on domestic targets.
But many observers believe the government secretly agrees with the tactic and may provide intelligence on the targets, saying that Islamabad’s admitting to assisting the attacks would be politically damaging.
The first attack on Friday took place in the village of Zharki in North Waziristan, when a single drone fired three missiles in the space of 10 minutes, the security officials said.
The missiles destroyed two buildings, killing 10 people, at least five of whom were foreign militants, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Hours later, a second missile struck a house in South Waziristan, killing eight people, the officials said, giving no more details.
The US does not acknowledges firing the missiles, which are believed to be mostly fired from drones operated by the CIA and launched from neighboring Afghanistan.
An AP tally based on accounts from Pakistani security officials showed that at least 263 people — most of them alleged militants — have been killed in the strikes since last August.
A US strike on New Year’s Eve killed two Kenyans said to be among al-Qaeda’s top operatives on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list, a US official said recently.
General David Petraeus, who is in charge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said late last year that at least three top extremist leaders were killed in recent months due to the missile strikes.
Pakistan’s government has little control over the border region, which is considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders.
Obama is making the war in Afghanistan and the intertwined al-Qaeda fight in Pakistan his top foreign policy priority. He has not commented on the missile strike policy, but struck a hawkish tone during his election campaign.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS