Seven militants killed in US drone attack

MIRANSHAH: Seven suspected militants were killed and four others injured in a US drone attack in the Shawal area of the troubled North Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.
Official and tribal sources said the drone fired two missiles and struck a double-cabin pickup truck reportedly carrying militants to their sanctuaries in the remote trees-covered mountainous Shawal Valley.
“The drone fired two missiles and hit the double-cabin pick-up truck carrying militants to their compound in another area,” the sources said.Pleading anonymity, the sources said that militants affiliated to the North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur were targeted in the drone strike.
Official sources confirmed the drone strike and said that local and foreign militants were killed and injured in the attack.The drone carried out the missile attack just one day after fighter aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force pounded militants’ hideouts in the Dattakhel area of the same volatile tribal region and reportedly killed 76 militants.
There was no way to independently confirm these accounts as North Waziristan has no media access.Most of the local residents have fled homes and villages due to the military operation launched by the government against the local and foreign militants on June 15, 2014.
Military officials had told members of the Senate Defence Committee, during their visit to North Waziristan a few days ago, that more than 1,300 militants had been killed during the offensive so far.