US Drone attacks kill 7 in NWaziristan

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: The suspected US Drone attacks have killed at least seven people in North Waziristan, sources told SAMAA on Friday.

SAMAA learnt that three missiles were fired over a village, Paikhel, some 30 km away from Miranshah where at least seven people were killed on the spot while five others injured, sources added.

US DRONE ATTACK KILL 12 IN NORTH WAZIRISTAN ON THURSDAY

At least 12 people including seven foreigners have been killed in US Drone strikes, SAMAA reported on Thursday evening.

The local sources said that five spying jets carried out eight missiles over village Dighan some 25 km west to the Miranshah, the headquarter of North Waziristan. Fifteen people were killed on the spot including seven foreigners, sources added. The foreign news agencies claimed 15 have been killed. Two houses and a vehicle were completely destroyed in the strikes. More causalities are being feared.

AGENCIES ADD: Two separate US missile strikes killed at least 14 militants in northwest Pakistan Thursday, officials said, as Islamabad faces growing US pressure to dismantle Islamist extremist networks.

The attacks hours apart by unmanned US drone aircraft hit suspected militant hideouts in the same area of North Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal belt branded the most dangerous place in the world by Washington.

It was not clear which groups were targeted, with North Waziristan rife with Taliban militants, Al-Qaeda fighters and members of the Haqqani network, a powerful group known for staging attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan.

In the deadliest attack, multiple drones launched an onslaught in the evening on several houses in North Waziristan's Ambarshaga area, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the main district town Miranshah.

"Five US drones fired at least seven missiles, targeting two houses and two vehicles in the Ambarshaga area in North Waziristan and killing 12 militants," a senior security official in the area told AFP.

He said that those killed in the strike included at least four foreigners, adding that their nationalities could not be immediately established.

Pakistani officials mostly use the term "foreigners" to refer to Al-Qaeda recruits operating in the tribal regions.

He added it was also not clear whether any high-value target was present in the area at the time of attack.

Another security official confirmed the bombing by the drone and said the death toll may rise due to the intensity of the strike.

In a second attack in the same area, missiles fired by a US drone at around midday slammed into a house allegedly used by militants.

"The American drone fired two missiles, killing two militants and badly damaging a house and an attached guest portion. A car was completely destroyed," said a security official based in Miranshah.

"The militants rented out this house and were using it as a base."

A local intelligence official confirmed the strike and the death toll in the village of Dattakhel. Officials refused to be named because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which inflame anti-American sentiment.