News
Thursday, November 17, 2011
US missiles kill 18 Taliban in South WaziristanMIRANSHAH: A major salvo of US missiles on Wednesday destroyed a Pakistani Taliban base on the Afghan border, killing up to 18 insurgents including possible al Qaeda fighters, local officials said. Five US drones fired up to 10 missiles into a sprawling compound in the Baber Ghar area of South Waziristan, killing 15 to 18 fighters in the deadliest such American strike in three months, the Pakistani officials said. US officials say Pakistan’s tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting for 10 years against American troops in Afghanistan, al Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West and Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan. Five US drones carried out Wednesday’s attack, one of the officials told AFP in the deadliest such coordinated strike in northwest Pakistan since a similar strike killed 21 fighters in the Afghan Taliban Haqqani faction on August 10. “The target was a base of Pakistan Taliban. We have reports that 16 to 18 militants were killed,” the official told AFP in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Another official in Peshawar put the death toll at 15. An official in Wana confirmed that a TTP base was destroyed and said there were reports that “some foreigners” were also killed. afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk