Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 18, 2008
Pg. 16
By Ismail Khan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Five people were killed and three were wounded when a [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]United[/FONT] States Predator drone fired missiles into a house in the restive South Waziristan tribal region, local residents said Wednesday.
The attack came as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, met with Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in an effort to ease tensions over an American incursion into the tribal areas and a rising number of drone strikes.
Residents of the village of Baghar Cheena, who took the wounded to a hospital in the regional center of Wana, said drones had fired four missiles. Two hit a house, and two others landed in the mountains, they said. The attack occurred in the evening, as the villagers were breaking the Ramadan fast, they said.
Local militants immediately cordoned off the area, and retrieved and moved the bodies to an undisclosed location. Local residents said none of the wounded were from the area, but came from the Punjab.
A senior security official confirmed the missile attack but said that the identities of those killed were yet to be established. A Pakistani military spokesman, who identified himself as Major Murad, said an investigation was under way. An intelligence source said the attack took place around 7 p.m. local time, less than three miles from the Afghan border. It killed 13 militants, mostly from Punjab, and wounded at least 9, the source said.
In his account, five missiles were fired, two of them hitting a compound and the rest falling in the nearby mountains. The target may have been a group of militants based in Wana who seemed poised to cross into Afghanistan for an attack against NATO forces, the [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]official[/FONT] said.
Thousands of Wazirs from the area vowed during a meeting on Wednesday to raise a volunteer army to make incursions into Afghanistan against NATO forces if the Americans again carried out a raid inside Pakistan, local residents said.
Pir Zubair Shah contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.
September 18, 2008
Pg. 16
By Ismail Khan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Five people were killed and three were wounded when a [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]United[/FONT] States Predator drone fired missiles into a house in the restive South Waziristan tribal region, local residents said Wednesday.
The attack came as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, met with Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in an effort to ease tensions over an American incursion into the tribal areas and a rising number of drone strikes.
Residents of the village of Baghar Cheena, who took the wounded to a hospital in the regional center of Wana, said drones had fired four missiles. Two hit a house, and two others landed in the mountains, they said. The attack occurred in the evening, as the villagers were breaking the Ramadan fast, they said.
Local militants immediately cordoned off the area, and retrieved and moved the bodies to an undisclosed location. Local residents said none of the wounded were from the area, but came from the Punjab.
A senior security official confirmed the missile attack but said that the identities of those killed were yet to be established. A Pakistani military spokesman, who identified himself as Major Murad, said an investigation was under way. An intelligence source said the attack took place around 7 p.m. local time, less than three miles from the Afghan border. It killed 13 militants, mostly from Punjab, and wounded at least 9, the source said.
In his account, five missiles were fired, two of them hitting a compound and the rest falling in the nearby mountains. The target may have been a group of militants based in Wana who seemed poised to cross into Afghanistan for an attack against NATO forces, the [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]official[/FONT] said.
Thousands of Wazirs from the area vowed during a meeting on Wednesday to raise a volunteer army to make incursions into Afghanistan against NATO forces if the Americans again carried out a raid inside Pakistan, local residents said.
Pir Zubair Shah contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.