 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Drone attack mocks Mullen’s assurance |
|
|
|
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Seven perish as four missiles hit South Waziristan village
By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Irfan Burki
PESHAWAR/WANA: At least seven people were killed in a brazen drone attack in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on Wednesday hours after top US commander Admiral Michael Mullen assured officials that American forces would respect Pakistan's sovereignty.
Reports said seven suspected militants, some of them reportedly foreigners, were killed and several others injured when two US spy planes fired four Hellfire missiles on Baghar village near Angoor Adda near the border with Afghanistan.
Senior government officials based in Wana, headquarters of SWA, told The News by telephone that they received reports of four huge explosions in the border village of Baghar in which seven people were reportedly killed and several others injured.
They said two US spy planes, which were flying over various tribal villages inhabited by the Ahmadzai Wazir tribespeople for the past 24 hours, fired missiles on the village.
Tribal residents of Angoor Adda -- a border town between SWA and Afghanistan's troubled Paktika province -- told The News that two drones were seen flying over the border villages during the missile attacks on the village.
The residents said two of the Hellfire missiles hit equal number of houses owned by local tribespeople. The villagers said both the houses were levelled to the ground in which seven people were killed and several others injured. The residents said the dead also included women and children.
Sources close to militants, led by a pro-government tribal commander Maulvi Nazeer, told The News that besides the Ahmadzai Wazir tribal militants, some foreign nationals living in Baghar and adjoining villages were also killed in the missile attack.
"Our friends were staying there for the past several months and this area was one of the secure places for mujahideen," said a militant commander, who wished not to be named. He refused to disclose nationality of the slain foreign militants.
"There are 50 per cent chances that our ammunition depot could have been destroyed in the village," said the militant commander.
Government officials said five of the victims were said to be foreign nationals, including Arabs and Turkmen.
Baghar village, which is about 50 kilometres west of Wana and six kilometres east of Angoor Adda, was previously also attacked by US drones.
The residents said an old Sra Kanda fort housing paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and Pakistan Army soldiers is at a distance of about a kilometre from the village but the troops as usual reportedly kept silence over flying of US drones and firing of missiles inside Pakistan.
In Shewakai Naray village, 15 kilometres of Wana, tribal militants reportedly fired shots from their heavy weapons on the drones but as usual the US spy planes remained safe.
Tribal sources feared that the death toll in the missile attack could rise as four missiles were fired on the village.
Meanwhile, in order to lodge a strong protest over repeated violations of Pakistan airspace by the US drones and carrying out airstrikes in the Ahmadzai Wazirs-inhabited areas of SWA, a grand tribal jirga of nine sub-tribes of Ahmadzai Wazirs held its meeting in Wana's main Rustam Bazaar where they raised a tribal Lashkar to defend their frontiers with Afghanistan. They threatened to scrap the peace deal with the government if it failed in stopping the US attacks.
Former JUI-F MNA from South Waziristan, Maulana Noor Mohammad chaired the jirga, where around 1,000 tribal elders and tribesmen were present.
The jirga though hailed a strong statement of Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani against the repeated US attacks on the tribal regions, the Ahmadzai Wazir tribal elders said the government was yet to stop US planes from flying over Pakistani tribal areas and carrying out airstrikes.
The jirga announced that eight million tribesmen from tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan would voluntarily fight alongside their armed forces if the US dared to attack the tribal regions.
The Ahmadzai Wazirs on the occasion announced raising a 400-member tribal Lashkar that would be deployed at the border with Afghanistan to safeguard Pakistan's frontiers against foreign forces.
Reuters adds: The missile strike that reportedly killed seven militants on Wednesday was the result of US and Pakistani intelligence sharing, a senior Pakistani official said.
"It shows improving intelligence coordination on the ground," said the official, who had knowledge of the operation and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
CJ says good governance being compromised
By Sohail Khan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that good governance is being compromised as it is believed that the administration of justice is the sole duty of courts or the legal fratern more |
|
|
Hakimullah dies of wounds in Multan?
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Reports about the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud once again started circulating on Tuesday and this time it was being reported that the militant commander had succumb more |
|
|
MNAs seek solution to Sindh-Punjab water rift
ISLAMABAD: Members of the National Assembly on Tuesday urged for the resolution of the water crisis between Punjab and Sindh, failing which would lead to serious repercussions for the country.
Yousuf Tal more |
|
|
Good governance hinges on change in national behaviour: PM
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that change in the collective behaviour of the nation is necessary for the promotion of good governance. He said that his government believed in streng more |
|
|
NIC made mandatory to get sugar from USC outlets
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday made it mandatory to produce national identity cards to get a pack of 2kg sugar from the USC outlets.
The ECC met here unde more |
|
|
|
Three provinces to hold LG polls in four months
By Hanif Khalid & Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: A high level meeting here on Tuesday at the Aiwan-e-Sadr decided that the chief ministers of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan would hold local government elections in four months.
President Asif Al more |
|
|
|
Senators condemn attack on Sh Rashid
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday strongly condemned the murder attempt on Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members advised Sheikh Rashid to stop more |
|
|
|
PIA obliges religiously; latest being religious minister
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), facing a mind-boggling loss of about Rs70billion, has quietly upgraded two seats of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and his wife fr more |
|
|
|
A brigadier without brigade has a history of thrashing
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The basher-brigadier of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), who assaulted his professor colleague late Thursday, has a long list of such incidents on his credit as his resume is sprin more |
|
|
|
PAC settles drought money misuse
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: A special committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing misuse of drought funds worth million of rupees on Tuesday conveniently settled majority of charges against deputy auditor general o more |
|
|
|
NA-55 by-polls
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has urged all the political parties, including the PML-N, to withdraw from the NA-55 by-polls in favour of Sheikh Rashid.
“ more |
|
|
|
Point scoring be avoided in Rashid attack case: Shahbaz
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the Rawalpindi incident on Monday had grieved every Pakistani.
He said a joint investigation team comprising federal and provincial agencies including I more |
|
|
|
SC moved against delay in judges’ appointment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday against the government’s delay in the appointment of judges in the apex court and was prayed for directing the government to perform its constitutional duty by more |
|
|
|
‘74 killed in Bajaur operation’
By Hasbanullah Khan
KHAR: Security forces claimed to have killed 74 militants and injured 54 others and wrested the strategically important hilltops and areas from the insurgents during the weeklong military operation in the Mamon more |
|
|
|
Afghan unrest kills US, French soldiers
KABUL: A US and French soldiers were killed in attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance said.
The US service member was killed in an improvised bomb blast in southern Afghanis more |
|
|
|
Army called in for today’s Lakki by-election
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The government has requisitioned the services of the Pakistan Army to augment the police and civil security forces for conducting the NWFP Assembly by-election on PF-75 Lakki Marwat for which polling more |
|
|
|
Meeting discusses political issues
ISLAMABAD: A meeting held here at the presidency on Tuesday and presided over jointly by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani discussed political and development issues in the N more |
|
|
|
Rashid accuses PML-N of promoting criminal culture
ISLAMABAD: Head of Awami Muslim League, Sheikh Rashid, on Tuesday criticised the PML-N-led Punjab government for promoting criminal culture in Rawalpindi and the province.
Talking to a private TV channel more |
|
|
|
Briefs...
Over 64 dead in Afghan avalanches
KABUL: At least 24 bodies have been recovered and 40 other people are feared dead after avalanches swept vehicles into a ravine and trapped cars in a mountain pass overn more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
