Another al-Qaeda leader dead in drone strike

KABUL (Pajhwok): A day after the death of a wanted al-Qaeda leader in a Pakistani military operation in South Waziristan, another key leader of the network was killed in a US drone strike near Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency (NWA), on Sunday.

DawnNews quoted well-placed sources as saying that a US drone hit a compound in the Khat Tangi locality of Dattakhel, leaving five people dead and three others wounded. The slain commander was identified as Umar Farooq, alias Umar Ustad.

The unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at the compound, which was completely destroyed. Ustad Farooq is said to have served as al-Qaeda’s spokesman in Pakistan. He was chosen as the first Pakistani national to speak for al Qaeda in the South Asia region in 2009.

Drone attacks are widely unpopular in Pakistan and condemned by the authorities as a counterproductive exercise, harming civilians and fuelling anger against the US. North Waziristan is among Pakistan’s seven tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan.

rm/mud

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