Drone Fires Missile in Pak, 12 Dead
A suspected US drone is reported to have fired a missile into the Orakzai area of Pakistan’s restive North West Front6ier Province on Wednesday, media reports attributing the information to security officials in the area say at least 12 people were killed in the strike.
The strike was the first in the Orakzai area inhabited by ethnic Pushtuns, and comes a day after Pakistani Taliban faction head Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for a bizarre attack on a police academy in the eastern Punjab province.
Mehsud had termed the attack as an act of vengeance against US drone attacks and had warned of a huge terror strike in the US capital of Washington DC.
Reuters attributing information to residents in the Khadizai village of the region said, the missile hit a Taliban headquarters and 12 people were killed.
It added that another 13 people were wounded in the strike.
The suspected US drone attacks into Pakistan have intensified over the last year as US and NATO forces in Afghanistan blamed Taliban factions in Pakistan for growing acts of insurgency in that country.
Islamabad has repeatedly expressed displeasure over the attacks that it says are counter-productive to the fragile peace the democratic government has struggled to maintain.
The US, however, neither accepts nor disowns the nearly 30 drone attacks in Pakistan over the last year have killed over 300 people.
