Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday that at least twelve people have been killed in two suspected US drone attacks in the country's northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border.
Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two drone strikes took place in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, a known stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.
At least six people were killed in the first drone strike, which reportedly targeted a house and a truck carrying suspected militants. A short while later, another US drone attacked a crowd of villagers carrying out relief work, killing six more people.
According to Pakistani officials, over a dozen people were injured in the two drone attacks. They said the death toll in the strikes may rise as many of the injured were in serious condition, adding that it is still not clear how many of the victims were militants.
Such suspected U.S. drone attacks on militant targets within Pakistan's volatile northwestern tribal districts have increased in recent weeks after a bomber killed seven U.S. intelligence agents in a suicide attack late last year in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions, especially North and South Waziristan, are dominated by Taliban militants, who often launch cross-border attacks on U.S. and NATO forces stationed in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military currently has two separate anti-militant offensives progressing in the Taliban strong holds of South Waziristan and the Swat Valley region. The operations were initiated after the Obama administration urged Islamabad to take on Taliban militants it considers responsible for the escalating violence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan has so far resisted calls from Washington to launch a new anti-militant offensive against Taliban militants operating in North Waziristan, which is considered to be a strong-hold of al-Qaeda militants and a Taliban faction led by Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani.
U.S. forces in Afghanistan often use unmanned drone aircraft to target militants in Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghan border. Though the U.S. military does not confirm drone attacks, the American armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are believed to be the only entities capable of deploying drones in the region.
The U.S. missile strikes on Taliban militants inside Pakistan is a very sensitive issue in the country and the Pakistani government has protested strongly against such cross-border missile attacks in the past. The Pakistani government says that such attacks violate its sovereignty.
In recent months, the Pakistani government has urged Washington to provide Islamabad with drone technology to enable its armed forces to tackle Taliban militants in the border regions with Afghanistan. Pakistani leadership insists that the cross-border missile attacks from Afghanistan are counter productive, and promotes anti-American sentiments in Pakistan as they end up killing civilians along with targeted militants.
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