Four killed in US drone attack in North Waziristan

Islamabad, Nov.5 : At least four persons were killed and four others wounded in a missile attack carried out by unmanned US aircrafts in Norok tehsil of Mir Ali in North Waziristan late on Wednesday night.

According to sources, the identity of people killed and injured in the attack in yet to be ascertained, but unconfirmed reports said the target of the US drones was a militant hideout based in the region.

A senior security official of the region told a foreign news agency that at least two missiles were fired from the drones, which landed inside a compound of a local tribesman, Musharraf Gul.

“Taliban rebels were using the compound. It is not clear if there was any high-value target. We also do not know yet the identity of the militants,” The Nation quoted the official, as saying.

Drones were seen hovering over the region continuously after the attack forcing people to vacate their houses in panic.

This was the second such missile attack in the region in less than a month.

More than 35 missile strikes have killed over 350 people since August 2008, fanning hostility against the United States and the government in Pakistan, where more than 1,700 people have died in extremist bombings in the last couple of years.

While Islamabad has been raising concerns over such US attacks in the lawless tribal region along the Pakistan –Afghanistan border saying it is against its sovereignty and that such attacks are counterproductive as scores of innocent people were being killed, Washington maintains that such hits have been really successful against the outlawed terror groups such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Pakistan Taliban’s chief Baitullah Mehsud was also killed in similar attack in August this year.

--ANI