15 militants killed in US drone attack in North Waziristan

ISLAMABAD - At least 15 militants have reportedly been killed in a latest US drone attack in Shaktoi region in North Waziristan.

The US drones targeted a militant hideout in the region, 40 kilometres southeast of Miranshah, destroying the building completely.

“The target was a militant compound. At least 15 bodies have been recovered from the rubble so far,” The News quoted a senior military official, as saying.

This is the second such missile hit in the region in as many days.

On Friday, 11 extremists were killed in twin drones strikes in the same region.

The strike took place close to the region where the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud was believed to have been killed in a similar strike earlier this week.

Earlier, a Pakistani security official had claimed that the drone attack which killed at least ten people, had also left three militant commanders dead, including Mehsud.

However, a TTP spokesperson said that while Mehsud was in the area of northwest Pakistan where a US drone strike killed 10 people on Thursday, he left before the missiles hit.

While Pakistan has raised objections over such strikes on a number of occasion, the Obama administration has made it clear that it would continue with its plan of targeting the extremists hiding inside Pakistan’s terrirtory along the Afghan border.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, recently, said that the missile strikes or any ground operations inside Pakistan would affect bilateral ties with the US. (ANI)