A missile strike by a suspected US drone killed at least four militants early yesterday in a northwestern Pakistani tribal district known as a stronghold of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said.
An al-Qaeda operative was among those killed in the strike 15km from the town of Marali, amid Taliban militant warnings of revenge attacks across Pakistan for the strikes.
“The strike destroyed a militant hideout in the village of Alikhel in North Waziristan,” a senior security official who declined to be named said.
Local officials said the missiles struck the house of a local tribesman, while a security official said the house was used as a hideout for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
The latest strike came shortly after Taliban militants based in the rugged tribal territory bordering Afghanistan warned of reprisal attacks across Pakistan if there were more suspected strikes by the US.
Earlier this week a major Arab al-Qaeda operative was among six militants killed in another suspected US missile strike in northwest Pakistan, the latest in a line of attacks.
Abdullah Azam al-Saudi, a senior member of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s network, had been identified by US intelligence as the main link between al-Qaeda’s senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region.
Bin Laden is also widely believed to be hiding in the rugged region, although there is no clear information about his whereabouts.
Washington has seemingly stepped up its missile strikes on the region since March, when a civilian government took over from Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, who turned Pakistan into a close US ally in the “war on terror.”
Recent strikes against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts, all blamed on unmanned CIA drones, have come despite warnings from Pakistan that such attacks violate international law and could deepen resentment of the US in the world’s second-largest Islamic nation.
Pakistan has officially protested to the US that strikes violate its sovereign territory, although some officials say there was a tacit understanding between the two militaries to allow such action.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari recently promised zero tolerance against violations of his country’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous province called yesterday for Washington to stop aerial missile strikes on the nation’s soil.
Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab and the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, said the strikes targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were only stoking tensions with Washington’s “war on terror” ally.
Sharif, the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said in an interview: “This is creating anger in Pakistan. This is creating friction between our two countries.”
“I hope there’s no further tension and escalation of friction, but no sovereign country can allow this to happen,” he said. “Pakistan is a sovereign, independent country and our territory, our independence cannot be flouted.”
Sharif said he hoped the incoming administration of US president-elect Barack Obama would stop such strikes and help reduce the current tensions with the Zardari government.
“President-elect Obama taking over the reins next January should result in better understanding of Pakistan’s problems and difficulties and sensitivities and should result in better cohesion between the two countries,” he said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS