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General News
11/5/2009 5:51 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
Four Taliban militants were killed in a pre-dawn missile attack by US drone at a militant hideout in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border Thursday, reports quoting official said.
Two missiles fired from the unmanned American Predator struck a house in Norak village, near Miranshah, the province's main town, at around 1:30 a.m. local time.
Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters use North and South Waziristan as their launchpad to carry out cross-border attacks on the Western forces in Afghanistan.
Though US aerial strikes have eliminated several Taliban operatives, Islamabad opposes them, saying they violate its sovereignty. Baitullah Mehsud, head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was killed in a US drone attack in August.
The US aerial strike comes at a time Pakistani troops are engaged in a major assault targeting Taliban and like-minded militants in the North West Frontier Province along the Afghan border. The insurgents' death toll is nearing 400 while nearly 40 soldiers were killed in stiff resistance by the militants.
The all-out military offensive has triggered one of the biggest evacuations that South Asian country has witnessed, with up to 250,000 civilians fleeing the rugged, mountainous conflict zone.
by RTT Staff Writer
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