Suspected US missile kills five in Pakistan
A suspected US missile strike killed at least five people today in a tribal region where Pakistan’s top Taliban commander is based, intelligence officials said.
The strike came as violence raged elsewhere in the volatile north-west region bordering Afghanistan: a bombing at a market killed at least eight people, while officials said clashes between the Taliban and security forces killed at least 20 militants in a tribal region supposedly cleared of insurgents months ago.
Local media have reported that the Taliban claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Pakistan, including one that killed a moderate cleric, calling them revenge for the army’s offensive in the north-western Swat Valley.
The attacks seem to have bolstered growing anti-Taliban sentiment in Pakistan, something the US hopes will translate into support for sustained military action against extremists who use Pakistani soil to plot attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
However, US missile strikes could undermine that sentiment because they are deeply unpopular among Pakistanis.
The government has publicly protested such strikes, fired by unmanned drone aircraft, saying they violate the country’s sovereignty, even though many analysts suspect the two countries have struck a secret deal to facilitate the attacks.
The US rarely acknowledges or discusses the missile strikes.
The latest strike – the first since mid-May – occurred in South Waziristan, hitting three vehicles in an area not far from Makeen, a village considered a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. It was not clear who the five people killed were.
South Waziristan, which also is an al Qaida stronghold, is believed to be the target of Pakistan’s next offensive against militants. Mehsud has been linked to bombings on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and US defence officials said last week that Pakistan intends to go after him, though no timeframe was given.
In recent weeks, militants and security forces have repeatedly skirmished in South Waziristan, though the army insists it is merely responding to attacks.
In a statement, the army said it killed some 30 militants in South Waziristan in strikes yesterday aimed in part at avenging the death of cleric Sarfraz Naeemi. Naeemi, killed in a suicide bombing on Friday, had denounced the Taliban as murderers.
