Despite persistent protests by Islamabad over drone attacks in the Tribal Areas, the Obama administration on Friday signaled that it would not scale back from its Predator bombing campaign in Pakistan with yet another strike in North Waziristan, killing at least 25, including five children and four women.
The attack coincides with the visit of US Army Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey who arrived on a daylong trip to Islamabad to iron out differences between the two allies in the war on terror. It also took place even as Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir was meeting State Department interlocutors, including a drop-in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his engagement with Under-Secretary of State Marc Grossman.
Just hours before the meeting, a US military official in Islamabad revealed that Washington would provide Pakistan with 85 small “Raven” drone aircraft to address long-standing Pakistani demands for Predator drones. In the precision strike that took place in Hasan Khel village in Spinwam tehsil, US drones fired six missiles on two residential compounds killing 25 and injuring 10 others, officials and local tribal said.
It was the first missile strike to hit North Waziristan since a diplomatic furore erupted between Pakistan and the US over a drone attack on March 17, which killed 39 civilians. Islamabad offered compensation to the victims’ families and called the US ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to formally protest the incident. A security official told Pakistan Today that the CIA-operated drones targeted a residential compound, suspected of being used by local Taliban militants, but two of the six missiles fired struck a house killing five children and four women.
The spy-plane earlier fired four missiles on a compound said to belong to militants loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadar group in Spinwam.
Friday’s drone strike took place two days after Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s visit to Pakistan where the civilian and military leadership informed him about the implications of drone attacks. Meanwhile, defence circles told Pakistan Today in Islamabad the meeting between General Dempsey and General Ashfaq Kayani failed to resolve the differences between the two sides.
“Gen Dempsey met Gen Ashfaq Kayani. He also met US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, as well as civilian and military staff at the embassy,” a US embassy statement stated, adding that this is Gen Dempsey’s first visit to Pakistan since assuming the duties of chief of staff on April 11.
According to defence sources, Friday’s drone strike appeared to signify immense pressure by the US on Pakistan to launch a new military offensive in North Waziristan, believed to be hub of Al Qaeda and Taliban activities, especially the most influential Taliban faction known as the Haqqani network.
“General Kayani told Gen Dempsey that the drone attacks need to be stopped as they have proved to be counterproductive in terms of adding to the already prevailing high anti-US sentiments in Pakistan,” an official said.
