October 4, 2008

21 people, including women and a child, were martyred and several others injured in two different attacks by US pilotless spy plane and jet fighters on villages in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Friday.

Official and tribal sources said a US spy plane, also known as drone or Predator, fired two Hellfire missiles on Mohammad Khel village, about 20 kilometres west of Miramshah, headquarters of the NWA, in which 15 people were killed and several others injured. There were reports that those martyred in the missile attack included some Arabs, who were invited to a dinner by the pro-Taliban tribesmen in the village. According to the villagers and official sources, a US spy plane that had been flying over NWA since Friday morning blitzed two houses owned by the Dawar tribesmen, Daud Jan and Abdur Rahman. Tribesmen in Miramshah said they heard two heavy explosions caused by the missile strikes in the evening.

The villagers said 15 bodies were retrieved from rubble of the destroyed houses and most of them were beyond recognition. They said several other people were injured in the attack and were shifted to various hospitals in Miramshah. The villagers said the drone fired missiles right when the guests were having their dinner. Sources close to the militants told The News that majority of the foreigners, earlier on request of the residents of Mohammad Khel village, had left the area and settled in other border villages when US drones continuously fired Hellfire missiles on their village. However, they said foreign militants, particularly Arabs, used to visit their old friends in the village. They said some of the foreigners were invited to the dinner but it was not clear whether they were killed in the attack or not. The villagers said a death toll from the missile could rise as some people were still trapped under the collapsed rooms. Even after the attack, the villagers said the US spy plane was flying over various tribal villages of the NWA.

Similarly, three tribesmen, including two women and a child, were killed and six others injured when two US jet fighters reportedly bombarded villages in the NWA, near the border with Afghanistan’s Khost province on Friday. Official and tribal sources told The News from the border areas that two US jet fighters and gunship helicopters pounded border villages between Pakistan and Afghanistan after US troops, patrolling the border areas inside Afghan territory, came under attack. Afghan Taliban led by prominent commander, Sirajuddin Haqqani alias Khaleefa claimed that their fighters attacked US troops in Narayzai area of Tanaee district in Afghanistan’s Khost province, killing five soldiers and injuring eight others.

Taliban claimed they also fired at two US helicopters that came to airlift the bodies and injured US soldiers. Sources said the US jetfighters and gunship helicopters later started pounding suspected positions of Taliban inside Afghanistan in which some of the bombs fell on two Pakistani border villages - Kharseen and Mazdak.