Drone strikes in Kurram Agency near Pak-Afghan border kills two, injures one

PARACHINAR: At least two men were killed and one was severely injured in two separate drone strikes, each on either side of the Pak-Afghan border on Wednesday.

According to media reports, a missile fired from a drone landed outside a house in Badshah Kot area of the Agency – one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

One suspected militant was seriously injured in a drone strike allegedly carried out by a US spy plane in Kurram Agency’s Badshah Kot area near the Pak-Afghan border.

According to officials, the man was identified as Khalid, who is said to be an “Afghan extremist”.

“The missile fell close to a house in the area,” said eyewitnesses and reported that US spy drones had been circling the Pak-Afghan border since Wednesday morning.

“In a similar strike carried out on the Afghan side, two ‘Afghan extremists’ were killed in the Khost province of Afghanistan,” said officials. They added that the pair had died close to an extremist den in the Khani Kila area.

In December last year, at least two suspected militants, including a commander, were killed when a US drone targeted a house at Ghuaz Garhi, near to Mata Sangar of Kurram Agency.

Two other people were killed in a vehicle targeted drone strike last month on December 26, 2017, in the Mata Sangar area of Kurram. In the same month, last year, a missile was fired at a compound at around 9 pm,  however, no loss of lives was reported.

From the last several months, hideouts of suspect militants have been targeted by US drones. The strikes in Kurram have intensified in lieu of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new Afghan policy in August 2018. The US president had also accused Pakistan of offering “safe haven to agents of chaos.”

It’s crucial to mention here that Islamabad has repeatedly said that drone strikes on its soil are a violation of its sovereignty.