US drone kills five Haqqani militants

HANGU: A US drone fired four missiles on Monday and hit three mud-built houses in the Lower Kurram Agency near the Afghan border killing five people believed to be members of the Afghan Taliban, tribal sources said.

The sources said four other people were also injured in the drone strike. They said the drone targeted three mud houses early morning at the Shaheedano Dhand area in the Kurram Agency.

According to sources, five people died on the spot and four other suffered injuries.

Tribal sources in the area said the slain militants belonged to the Haqqani network, a powerful arm of the Afghan Taliban operating in Khost, Paktika, Logar as well as in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The sources said the mud-built houses that were targeted by the drone were located at some distance from the residential area and the Afghan Taliban used to stay there before and after their attacks against foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

There was no way to ascertain the identity of the slain militants. The government officials, however, argued that only one person was injured in the drone strike, adding that the houses were empty when the attack took place.