5 suspects killed in Waziristan drone strike

ISLAMABAD (PAN‘s troubled northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Thursday, officials said.

The unmanned CIA-operated aircraft fired missiles into a house in the Spalgi area on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in the region, a political administration official said.

Khandan Khan told Pajhwok Afghan News the early morning attack destroyed the compound, killing several people. But the exact number was yet to be ascertained, he said.

A local journalist, Malik Mumtaz, said five residents were killed and two others wounded in the raid. The drone hovered over the area for some time after the attack, creating panic among residents.

A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone fired two missiles into the compound used by militants.

The latest attack came a week after US missiles killed Badar Mansoor, the most senior Pakistani in the Al Qaeda network, in the same area — a stronghold of the Taliban and other militants.

Unmanned drone strikes were halted for more than a month after a cross-border attack by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on two checkpoints in the lawless Mohmand tribal region on Nov. 26, 2011.

Mansoor, the most senior Pakistani in Al-Qaeda, one of America’s main targets in the country was wanted for attacks that killed scores of people.

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