Islamabad, June 19 (DPA) At least three people were killed Saturday in a missile strike carried out by an unmanned US aircraft in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.
Four people were injured in the attack near Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan tribal district.
‘A drone fired two missiles at a house and partially demolished it,’ an intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity. ‘According to the information we have received, so far, locals have pulled three bodies and four injured from the debris’.
The identities of the victims were not yet known.
Drones have carried out dozens of attacks this year in North Waziristan, a known redoubt of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters launching cross-border raids on foreign soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Hundreds of Islamist insurgents have died in the missile strikes, which have also caused civilian deaths.
Pakistan has publicly protested the attacks as violations of its sovereignty that fuel public resentment and complicate its cooperation with the United States against the militants.
But many security analysts said they believe Pakistani intelligence agents share information with their counterparts in the US Central Intelligence Agency about potential targets.
Also Saturday, a roadside bomb killed one person and injured three policemen in Dera Islmail Khan, a north-western district that borders the tribal district of South Waziristan.
Senior police official Mohammad Aslam Khattak said a police patrol was escorting regional investigation unit chief Mohammad Ashraf when it came under attack. Ashraf and five police guards survived with injuries but his relative Zumard Hussain died, Khattak said.
Ashraf was responsible for interrogating Taliban militants captured by security forces during an ongoing military offensive in South Waziristan.
