Suspected US drone missile strike kills 7 in Pakistan’s volatile NW, say intel officials
By Rasool Dawar, APWednesday, January 6, 2010
Officials: Suspected US strike kills 7 in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — A suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan’s northwest Wednesday, killing at least seven people in an area teeming with militants suspected in a suicide attack that killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.
The al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network is one of several militant groups that stage cross-border attacks against coalition troops from Pakistan’s lawless North Waziristan tribal area. Wednesday’s suspected drone strike is the third such attack in North Waziristan since the CIA bombing a week ago.
The Obama administration has pressed Pakistan to crack down on the Haqqani network, but the government has resisted, saying it has its hands full battling other militants that are waging war against the state. In response, Washington has stepped up drone strikes in the country’s militant-dominated tribal area near the Afghan border.
Wednesday’s attack occurred in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The identities of the seven people killed were unknown.
U.S. officials rarely discuss the missile strikes, and although Pakistan’s government publicly condemns them as violations of its sovereignty, many analysts believe the two countries have a secret deal allowing them.
