World

Suspected US missile kills 12 in Pakistan

by Sanjay Jha | September 11, 2008 at 11:01 pm

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With the approval from President George W. Bush, US special forces
have started ground assaults inside Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government. Now US has intensified attack in the tribal areas
in the Pakistan and latest reports says that more than 12 people have
killed in the suspected US missile attacks. US forces are going after militants operating from remote enclaves on Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

US forces have also started firing drone missiles targeting suspected militants and civilians. Pakistani has sharply reacted to American incursion and its army chief General Ashfaq Kayani had said that Pakistan would not allow foreign troops onto its soil.

A missile fired by a suspected US drone Friday killed a dozen people in a Pakistani tribal area where American forces based in Afghanistan have been targeting Al-Qaeda militants.

The missile hit a house on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a local official said, in the fifth such strike in two weeks targeting Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters hiding out in the rugged tribal area.

"The pre-dawn strike destroyed the house and 12 people were killed," the official told AFP, with another 10 people wounded.

The 12 were believed to be rebel fighters, locals said, adding that the house hit in the Tol Khel area had been rented by an Afghan militant organisation, Al Badar, and was being used as an office.

Al Badar, backed by former guerrilla leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has previously conducted operations against Afghan and international forces based across the border in Afghanistan, residents and a security official said.

Missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan in recent weeks have been blamed on US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan. Pakistan does not have missile-equipped drones.

US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged region after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous region.