Drone strike kills 38 near Afghan border
Image via WikipediaU.S. drone aircraft fired four missiles at a building in a militant sanctuary in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing 38 people in an unusually deadly strike, Pakistani officials said.China's news agency put an even higher death toll on the strikes:
A senior Pakistani intelligence official said the dead were militants meeting to discuss plans to send fighters to Afghanistan; the local governor said they were innocent tribal elders and police.
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The senior Pakistani security official denied the governor's accusations and said they were likely driven by Taliban propaganda. The militants claimed after the strikes that innocent tribesmen were killed, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The missiles hit a compound in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region — the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters along the Afghan border, said Pakistani intelligence officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
While it was unclear exactly how many militants were at the meeting, it appeared that almost all were killed or wounded, said the officials. A total of 38 people were killed and seven wounded, they said.
The militants were allied with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful Pakistani Taliban commander in the area who has focused his efforts on fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan, said the officials.
The most senior militant killed in the attack was Sharabat Khan, Bahadur's top commander for the Datta Khel area, who was leading the meeting, said the officials. Several foreign militants were also killed, they said.
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80 people reportedly killed in US drone strike in Pakistan
The article suggest there were several drone strikes in the area.
If it was a planning meeting for attacks in Afghanistan as reported, it has to be a blow to the Taliban war effort which has been struggling against the US surge in Afghanistan. We must have had good intelligence on the meeting.
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