US drone strike targeting warlord kills 6 in North Waziristan

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A US drone strike targeting a Taliban-linked warlord killed at least six militants in Datta Khel tehsil of North Waziristan on Sunday morning, security officials said.

The strike targeted the stronghold of prominent warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, as well as the nearby base of an Uzbek commander in North Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan.

“A US drone fired two missiles which hit a compound and a vehicle in Alwara Mandi of North Waziristan… killing six terrorists,” a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

The area has been a hub for al Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

The area is generally off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to independently verify the number and identity of the dead.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out militant sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which have been used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Army launched a major offensive in the area in June and says it has killed more than 1,700 militants so far, with 126 soldiers having lost their lives.

Bahadur, once seen as “pro-Pakistani”, is unhappy with the military offensive in North Waziristan. He is aligned with the Haqqani network, which is frequently accused of sending fighters and suicide bombers against US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The latest strikes came after Pakistan ramped up its anti-terror strategy in the wake of a December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar which killed 150 people, 134 of them children.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced the establishment of military courts for terror-related cases in order to accelerate trials, and the premier has also lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty, reinstating it for terrorism-related cases.

3 COMMENTS

  1. So what pakistan army is doing in n.waziristan are they playing kabbadi over there if not why we are allowing America to attack and if we are allowing American attacks why are we furious about Indian and Iranian border violations if America can attack on us despite being thousands of miles away why not these two countries after all they are our neighbours they deserve better than America.

  2. whatever sarah & zainab, they are doing good to pakistan!!!!! just get out from your deep deep paranoid thinking!!!!! i just want these scums to be eradicated so that we can all live in peace…….. yea yea i know CIA/FBI funded them but now they are also killing them

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