Stepped-up campaign of drone strikes batter Al-Qaeda, allies in Pak

PESHAWAR - A stepped-up campaign of American drone strikes over the past three months in the tribal area of North Waziristan has reportedly battered the Al-Qaeda and its Pakistani and Afghan units.

According to the New York Times, the strikes have forced the militants to abandon satellite phones and large gatherings in favour of communicating by courier and moving stealthily in small groups in an area which was once a free zone for the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The strikes have also sharpened tensions between the local tribesmen and the militants, who have dumped bodies with signs accusing the victims of being American spies in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan.

Meanwhile, the people from North Waziristan said there were multiple strikes on some days, and in some weeks the strikes occur every other day.

“The strikes have become so ferocious, it seems they really want to kill everyone, not just the leaders,” The newspaper quoted a militant, who is a mid-ranking fighter associated with the insurgent network headed by Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Earlier, several officials in the Obama administration had acknowledged that strikes on suspected militant targets had been intensified in North Waziristan and South Waziristan since the combined Taliban and Qaeda suicide attack at a U.S. base in Khost Province of Afghanistan in December last year.

According to Pakistani and American accounts, in the first six weeks of this year, more than a dozen strikes killed up to 90 people suspected of being militants. (ANI)