A US drone attack on Sunday killed at least seven militants in North Waziristan, officials said, days before the ISI chief heads to Washington with the contentious raids likely to be discussed. Drone strikes will likely be a major issue when Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam holds talks in Washington on August 1-3 with his CIA counterpart. In Sunday’s attack, the second of Ramadan, missiles struck a compound in Khushhali Turikhel village of North Waziristan, close to the border with Afghanistan. “US drones fired six missiles into a militant compound. At least seven militants were killed,” a security official told AFP. “It is not immediately clear if there was an important militant killed in the attack.” The toll might rise as militants search for colleagues buried under the rubble of the compound, the official said, adding that missiles also hit and destroyed two militant vehicles. Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties. Khushhali Turikhel is around 35 kilometers east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, which is considered a stronghold of Islamist militants. Washington regards the Tribal Areas the main hub of Taliban and al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. Ten militants were killed on Monday in a similar attack in Shawal area of North Waziristan. In a drone attack at the start of July, six militants were killed and an attack on June 4 killed 15 militants, including senior al Qaeda figure Abu Yahya al-Libi. There has been a dramatic increase in US drone strikes in Pakistan since May, when a NATO summit in Chicago could not strike a deal to end a six-month blockade on convoys transporting supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan. On July 3 however, Islamabad agreed to end the blockade after the United States apologised for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in botched air strikes last November. Islam’s trip on Wednesday would mark the first Washington visit in a year by the head of Inter-Services Intelligence and signals a thaw in relations beset by crisis since US troops killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad in May 2011. In protest at US drone attacks, local Taliban and Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur have banned vaccinations in North and South Waziristan, putting 240,000 children in the region at risk. They have condemned the immunisation campaign as a cover for espionage. In May, a Pakistani doctor was jailed for 33 years after helping the CIA find bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination programme as a cover.
Congratulations to Hawaldar Kiayani for, once again, not defending the borders of the country.
Hey daddy,you know anyone in the army or any family in the militarY?
@tikki. Actually yes I do. May I know why you ask?
Although I have read some good comments from you,I don't quite agree with the general Kayani comment.I am a proud son of an retired army colonal(may GOD bless his soul)and I know the pride and courage those men have.If they don't shoot those drones down is because the civil government is making deals on the side,not because the army does'nt want to.
@desi. I know a lot of people in the Army. They serve the country with dedication and pride. Army used to be a very honorable institute. It was run by very able Generals. Today's army is not the same as yesterday's. I blame kiayani because he has compromised on the principles and values that army stood for. Just take the example of kiayani accepting extention. There are a lot of senior generals who were vying for the top positions in the army. They had worked hard and obviously wanted the deserved promotions. How many carers were cut short because kiayani got extension. There were Generals who may have been just a couple of years away from retirement and they had the shot at the top positions. Due to his acceptance of extension, they retired because they reached they retirement age without getting a shot at another promotion. Is that fair to them? I think not. Did kiayani fire anybody over foreign invasion into Pakistan in abbottabad? NO. There is a list of failures on kiayani's part and I think he is ruining the morale of the army. Thats all.
@desi. I have a lot of people in armed forces in my family. I have seen army when it truly was respected. It was the leadership that made the difference. Today, army officers have no respect. I don't agree with kiayani accepting extension on his job. It cut short too many other careers. The affect was felt all the way down to the mid ranking officers. He did not fire anybody over a foreign invasion into Pakstan and nobody lost their job over the attack on GHQ. All these things have happened on his watch and I blame him. I have tremendous respect for the honest, dedicated and loyal army personell but I just thik that kiayani has upset the balance in his desire to appease the political leadership.
I guess at some point we all end up with our own opinions based on how we see things,and I respect that.I am always willing to have a civilized discussion,unlike some idiots commenting with dood wala english,but I guess I'll give them kudoos for trying and judoos for supporting the low life Zardari.These jack a.s.s.e.s. will never learn,they must like living in misery.
Daddy why dont you comment when the militants place IEDs all over the place killing innocent people.
@Nelta John. These are "suspected" militants. They should be dealt with by Pakistani forces. Would America go around killing "suspected" criminals in their own country without proving their crimes in the court of law. Absolutely not. Everybody is innocent untill proven guilty. A few years ago a very famous football player in America, O.J. Simpson, went free because the govt. could not prove his guilt in court. Everybody knew that he was a killer but they could not prove it in court. So why does America treat his own citizens differently than others? Does people living in Pakistan have no value? Is there life worth less? Are they not entitled to a fair trial? believe me if they are proven to be killers, murderers and they are working against Pakistan, I would be the first one to go watch them be punished. I would be raising my voice louder than anyone else to punish them. But their guilt needs to be proven first.
@Nelta John. Don't "we" have laws to punish these people "after" their crime has been proven. Let not go around killing people because we "suspect" that they are militants. And lets not allow a third country to come in and decide who is a militant and who is not and then kill them and go home without any repurcussions. Its a slap in the face of the country's security forces that someone can come in at will and do whatever they want and go back.
Good news. Please kill more terrorists so that Pakistan get rid of this menace which has become a realobstacle in our progress.
wow,those are some really big words you are using there hami
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