Suspected US drone attack kills eight in Pakistan
Friday, November 20, 2009
Pakistani officials said that a suspected US drone attack has killed at least eight people today, including foreign militants, in the country's northwest.
The officials said that two missiles were fired at a compound being used by suspected Taliban militants in Mir Ali village, in North Waziristan, a region on the Afghanistan-border that is said to be a militant stronghold.
At least eight people were killed in the drone attack. | ||
—Unnamed official to AFP |
"At least eight people were killed in the drone attack. A compound used by militants was targeted," said an unnamed official to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
Police official Mohammad Haroon said to the Reuters news agency that "it was a remote-controlled bomb. Two policemen died on the spot, while a third has succumbed to his injuries a short while ago."
US military officials generally do not confirm attacks such as these, but its armed forces and Central Intelligence Agency employees in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.
At least 65 similar drone strikes have killed about 625 people in Pakistan since August of last year, according to AFP.
Sources
- "Drone Kills 8 in Pakistan" — VOA News, November 20, 2009
- US drone strike kills eight in Pakistan: officials <broken link> [archived version] — Agence France-Presse, November 20, 2009
- "'US drone' targets Pakistan hideout" — Al Jazeera, November 20, 2009