Rare US missile attacks hit vehicle, house in northwest Pakistan, killing 12

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Rare US missile attacks hit vehicle, house in northwest Pakistan, killing 12

By Hussain Afzal, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Mon, 20 Jun, 2011

PARACHINAR, Pakistan - Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at a vehicle and a

house in northwest Pakistan, killing 12 people Monday in a rare attack in an

area where some of NATO's fiercest enemies have reportedly travelled, Pakistani

officials said.

The first attack in the Kurram tribal area hit a vehicle, killing five people,

said Noor Alam, a local government official. As tribesmen rushed to the scene,

the vehicle was struck again, killing two more people, he said.

Minutes later, a suspected U.S. drone attacked a nearby house, killing five

people, Alam said.

Seven of the 12 people killed in the attacks were Afghan militants whose bodies

were taken across the border to be buried, Alam said. The attacks were confirmed

by two Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity

because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Obama administration has dramatically stepped up covert CIA drone attacks

against militants in Pakistan, but there have only been a handful of strikes by

the missile-firing pilotless planes in the Kurram tribal area. Monday's strikes

could indicate an expansion of the program.

Most of the recent drone strikes have taken place in North Waziristan, an

important sanctuary for the Haqqani network, which U.S. military officials have

said is the most dangerous militant group battling foreign forces in

Afghanistan.

The U.S. has repeatedly asked Pakistan to launch an offensive against the

network in North Waziristan, but the military has said that its forces are

stretched too thin by other operations in the tribal areas.

Local tribesmen said late last year that the Haqqani network cut a deal with

Shiite Muslim militias in Kurram to allow the militants to cross through the

area on their way to fighting in Afghanistan. The route would help them avoid

the drone attacks that have rained down on North Waziristan.

Drone attacks are extremely unpopular in Pakistan and have generated tension

between Washington and Islamabad, which increased following the U.S. raid that

killed Osama bin Laden last month and humiliated the Pakistani government.

Around 1,000 tribesmen held a protest against drone strikes Monday in Miran

Shah, one of the main towns in North Waziristan. The rally was organized by a

pro-Taliban political party, Jamiat Ulema Islam. The crowd shouted " Down with

America " and threatened to block NATO supplies to Afghanistan if the drone

attacks don't stop.

The U.S. refuses to publicly acknowledge drone attacks in Pakistan, but

officials have said privately that they have killed senior Taliban and al-Qaida

commanders.

Pakistani officials regularly criticize the drone strikes in public, but some

are believed to support them in private depending on which militants they

target. At least some of the drones are also widely believed to take off from

bases inside Pakistan.

Analysts have said that Pakistani officials likely support drone strikes that

target the Pakistani Taliban, which has declared war on the state and carried

out scores of deadly attacks across the country.

Officials are likely less inclined to support strikes against the Haqqani

network, which has historical ties to the Pakistani government and has focused

its attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan. Many analysts believe the

Pakistani government views the Haqqani network as a key ally in Afghanistan once

foreign forces withdraw.

Also Monday, dozens of militants attacked the homes of two prominent

anti-Taliban tribal elders in the Mohmand tribal area with grenades and

machine-gunfire, killing four people and wounding six others, said Zabit Khan, a

local government official. One of the tribal elders was critically wounded in

the attacks, which took place shortly after midnight.

A bomb blast at the house of an anti-Taliban militia leader on the outskirts of

the northwest city of Peshawar killed the anti-Taliban leader and two other

people, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan. A bomb planted in a car was

detonated by remote control, Khan said. Five people were wounded.

Also in the northwest, a 9-year-old school girl wearing a suicide bomb vest was

detained at a paramilitary checkpoint in Lower Dir district, said local police

chief Salim Marwat. She was kidnapped from the city of Peshawar on Saturday and

was forced to wear the vest, he said.

In the southwest, a car bomb exploded near a women's college in Quetta, the

capital of Baluchistan province, killing two people and wounding 12 others, said

police officer Hamid Shakil. He did not say who is suspected of carrying out the

attack or indicate the target.

Baluchistan has experienced frequent attacks by nationalists who demand a

greater share of the province's natural resource wealth. But car bomb attacks

are rare.

The province, which borders Afghanistan, is also widely believed to be home for

many Afghan Taliban militants, including the group's leader, Mullah .

____

Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Miran Shah, Pakistan, and Anwarullah

Khan in Khar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.