10 militants killed, five injured in NWA drone attack

MIRANSHAH: Ten militants were killed and five others injured in the first US drone attack of the year 2015 in the restive North Waziristan Agency on Sunday, official sources said.
The drone fired four missiles and struck two different militant compounds located close to each other in the Lowara Mandi area of Dattakhel Tehsil.According to sources, 10 militants were killed and five others injured in both the missile strikes.
Those killed and injured were said to be members of the local Taliban. There was no way to collect information about the identity of the victims due to a lack of communication in the tribal region. There were also rumours that the leader of the North Waziristan Taliban, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, was killed in the drone strike, but it couldn’t be confirmed through independent sources.
Government and security officials neither denied nor confirmed the reports of his killing.He was also reported to have been killed a few weeks ago when the Pakistan Air Force fighter jets pounded his hideouts in Dattakhel, but the reports later proved untrue.The unmanned aircraft continued to hover over the area for a long time after the attack which hampered the rescue activities.