Islamabad, Pakistan:A suspected US missile strike killed 12 people in northwestern Pakistan on Friday and fighting at another militant stronghold near the Afghan border killed dozens more, officials said.
Two intelligence officials said that missiles struck a home near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, before dawn.
The officials added that the identity of the 12 people killed and five others who were injured was not immediately clear.
American forces in Afghanistan are stepping up their efforts to hit Taliban and al-Qaida militants in what they describe as safe havens in Pakistan's wild border regions, despite stiff protests from Islamabad.
With the insurgency in Afghanistan intensifying, President Bush secretly approved more aggressive cross-border operations in July, current and former American officials said.
The intelligence officials said that the agents in South Waziristan had told them about the latest attack. A military official also said he had received reports of a missile strike. He had no information on casualties.
North Waziristan is part of a belt of tribally governed territory where Pakistan's government has little control.
The frontier region is considered the most likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida second in command Ayman al-Zawahri.
Both the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operate drone aircraft armed with missiles of the type believed to have killed two senior al-Qaida commanders in Pakistani territory earlier this year.
Pakistani officials warn that the strikes will deepen anti-American sentiment in the country and wreck efforts to win over moderate tribal leaders and bring economic development to the impoverished border region.
Comments
0 comment