Nine militants killed, five injured in US drone strike

WANA/MIRANSHAH: Nine militants were killed and five others sustained injuries in a US drone attack in the mountainous Shawal Valley of North Waziristan on Thursday.
Some reports, however, suggested that the attack took place in the Wocha Darra area of Ladha subdivision in the adjoining South Waziristan tribal region. This area is close to the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan.
Government officials and tribal sources said the drone fired four missiles and targeted two hideouts of local militants that they had established in the mountains covered by dense forests.
There are reports that one of the compounds was believed to be operated by the North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur and his fighters while the second one was owned by the militants loyal to the slain Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) head Hakimullah Mehsud.
A government official, on condition of anonymity, said that rumours circulated about the presence of Hafiz Gul Bahadur in the area when the drone strike took place. However, he added that there was no evidence that Gul Bahadur was killed in the attack by the drone operated by CIA.
The second compound, the sources said, was also set up in Shawal but was located in the South Waziristan side of the mountainous valley.The four militants were said to have been killed in the second attack. There was no way to ascertain the identity of the slain men as there are no means of communication there. Residents had fled the area in October 2009 when the government had launched a major military operation against the militants in the Mehsud-populated part of South Waziristan. The Mehsud tribal people were displaced and most are yet to be repatriated to their villages.
In North Waziristan, the government launched a massive military offensive against the militants on June 15, 2014 in which military officials claimed to have killed more than 1,500 fighters.
The military offensive has dislocated more than 700,000 residents of North Waziristan from their homes and villages. Locals are of the view that the militants are in control of certain areas of Dattakhel and the entire Shawal Valley where security forces are preparing to battle them.