- The Guardian, Saturday October 4 2008
Missiles, believed to have been fired from US drone aircraft, killed as many as 21 people in one part of Pakistan’s tribal area yesterday.
Pakistani intelligence officials said most of the dead were militants, but the attacks will aggravate strains between the two countries over American military assaults on targets in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials said two villages in the North Waziristan area were hit just before dusk by the missiles. News reports identified 16 of the dead as “foreigners”, a term which usually describes fighters from Arab countries or Central Asia.
Two women and a child also were reported to have been killed in the strike, which was the second of its kind in the tribal areas this week and the eighth in the last month. Other sources put the death toll at nine with several more wounded.
The compound targeted yesterday, located in the Momadkhel district, close to the Afghan border, was believed to be owned by two Afghan nationals. The area is about 12 miles west of Miranshah, North Waziristan’s main town.
Another strike this week killed eight people in the nearby village of Khushali Toori Khel.
Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders have complained that missile attacks violate the country’s sovereignty and anger the local population, making it harder to crack down on the extremists.
US commanders have spoken of respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty but have suggested they would not stop cross-border strikes on militants whom they suspect of aiding the Taliban insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.
Tags: 21 killed, complaints by Pakistanis, militants, Pakistan, US missile attacks
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