Islamabad, May 3: US drones on Monday fired missiles at militant targets in Pakistan’s restive northwest killing six people as Army commandos backed by artillery and mortar fire pushed deeper into the adjoining Bajaur slaying another 18 militants.
Predator drones fired three missiles on a moving militant convoy in Machi Khel area of North Waziristan killing six militants and injuring many others, local officials said. Locals tribesmen said spy planes hovered over the region in low flights before the attack. The Taliban militants cordoned off the area immediately after the strike. It was not immediately known if there were any high value targets among the victims. US drone attacks routinely target Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders in Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions along the Afghanistan border.
More than 830 people have been killed in more than 90 US strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, with a surge in 2009 as President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the heart of his fight against Al Qaeda. The US has stepped up strikes in North Waziristan after Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud appeared in a video with Hammam Khalil Al-Balawi, the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives in a forward base in Afghanistan’s Khost province in December 2009. It is the second US drone strike in the same region in eight days. On April 25 the drone strike at a house in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan had killed five people. Meanwhile, Pakistani Army commandos under the cover of heavy artillery fire attacked Taliban strongholds in nearby Bajaur area also in the tribal belt killing 18 militants.
Officials said Army forces surrounded militants hideouts in Ghundo village near Khar, the main town in Bajaur and carrying out hit and run attacks.