US Drone Strike Kills Seven in North Waziristan…
US drones fired missiles at the North Waziristan town on Darpa Kheil, just outside of Miramshah, killing at least seven people and wounding an as-yet unknown number of others. The town is the home of a major religious school set up by the Haqqani family, and has been a target of US strikes in the past.
In early September of last year the US struck the religious school, killing at least 23, many of them civilians. Today’s strike hit what officials called a “suspected militant hideout,” but the identity of any of the slain people is not yet known.
The Haqqani family is led by the elderly Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the US-back mujahideen which opposed the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan who later became an opponent of the US occupaiton of Afghanistan. The family has been in the news is recent months when it was reported that they had “bought” a US soldier who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan by Taliban forces.
The attack is also the third US strike on North Waziristan this month, at a time when the Pakistani government is trying to prevent their military offensive in South Waziristan spilling over into the restive north.
Source: Antiwar.com
