Report: U.S. missiles kill militants in Pakistan

Monday, December 28, 2009


Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Two missiles believed to be fired by a U.S. unmanned aircraft killed 13 militants in Pakistan's tribal region, a local intelligence official said Sunday.

The casualties Saturday included Taliban commander Abdur Rehman, who is part of a network that operates in Afghanistan.

The incident took place in the Saidgi village in North Waziristan, according to the official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said the drone strike target was a house. The United States does not offer comment on reported drone attacks. However, the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, at least 21 people were injured Saturday night when a roadside bomb exploded in southern Karachi, authorities said. The incident occurred as a Shiite Muslim procession ahead of the holy day of Ashura on Sunday was expected to pass through that area, police said.

A government official and five of his children were killed Sunday by a bomb blast in Pakistan's troubled northwest, authorities said.

The device was planted outside the home of Sarfaraz Khan, an official who helped administer the Sadda area in Kurram.

Kurram is one of seven districts that make up the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the country.

The 2 a.m. attack also wounded three other Khan family members: two women and a child, officials said.

The government is in the midst of an intense army offensive to rout militants from their haven along the country's border with Afghanistan -- where the tribal areas are located. The militants, in turn, have launched a series of deadly attacks inside the country in retaliation.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack.

At least five people were killed and dozens were injured in a suicide bombing and separate gas line explosion in Pakistan Sunday, officials said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint at the entrance to a mosque in Muzaffarabad, in northeast Pakistan, Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Impiaz Ahmed told CNN.

Three policemen and two others were killed and 81 were injured in the blast, 10 of those in critical condition, he said.

Muzaffarabad is the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

As many as 22 injuries were reported in an earlier blast in Karachi.

Investigators concluded that the blast was not a bomb, but a gas line explosion, Karachi Police Chief Waseem Ahmed told CNN.

The injured were transported to area hospitals, police said.



source:http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/pakistan.attack/index.html


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