10 killed in NWA drone attack
09 February, 2012
MIRAMSHAH: Ten people, suspected to be militants, were killed in a US drone attack on Torikot village near Spalga area of North Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday.
Tribal sources said the drone fired two missiles at a house in Torikot in Spalga, 15 kilometres east of Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan.
Local tribesmen said the house was razed to the ground when hit by the missiles fired from the drone and those living there were buried under the debris. They said after hectic efforts, 10 bodies were pulled out from the debris but most were burnt beyond recognition.
"We took part in the rescue work and recovered pieces of 10 bodies from the rubble. There was not a single body that could be recognised," a villager from Torikot said requesting anonymity. He said all of the deceased were laid to rest in a local graveyard.
Official sources said the slain men included militants belonging to the Punjab. "There were reports that some of the slain men were Punjabi Taliban based in North Waziristan," an official said, declining to be named. He said there was no prominent figure among the slain militants.
Some media reports earlier said the militants belonged to the powerful Afghan Taliban faction of the Haqqani network, but local tribesmen and sources close to the group termed these reports untrue. "The Haqqanis have already shifted their people from the Pakistani tribal areas, particularly from North Waziristan where they lived earlier, to neighbouring Afghanistan. Also, the Haqqani people never lived in Mir Ali town and adjoining villages where the drone attack took place on Wednesday," sources close to the militant network told The News.
This was the fifth attack by the CIA-operated spy planes in North Waziristan this year. Drones had earlier carried out four missile strikes in North Waziristan, two in Mohammadkhel village and one each in Dattakhel Tehsil and Miramshah.
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