At least four people were killed and four others were injured early Wednesday morning in a suspected US drone strike in northwestern Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region.
According to initial reports, the US drone fired two missiles at a house in Miramshah’s area of Chashma Village, killing four and injuring four others. More deaths were feared in the attack.
The wounded were shifted to a nearby hospital where injured were stated to be in critical condition.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official condemned US drone strike which killed four people in North Waziristan as a breach of sovereignty.
“Any drone strike is against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan and we condemn it,” the official, who declined to be identified, said.
This is the first reported drone strike in Pakistan since the May 11 general elections won by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is preparing to take power in the first week of June, has called the drone strikes a “challenge” to Pakistan’s sovereignty saying Washington must take Pakistani concerns seriously.
Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) is set to form a coalition government in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had also vowed to put an end to US drone attacks if voted into power.
The tribal region of North Waziristan is considered a bastion of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.
Earlier on Friday, Pakistan’s interim government repeated its view that US drone strikes in its territory were illegal after President Barack Obama laid out new guidelines for their use.
The US president mounted a firm defence of his covert drone war as legal and just in a major speech on counter-terrorism policy on Thursday but warned that undisciplined use of the tactic would invite abuses of power.
