A suspected U.S. drone strike killed at least five militants
in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, with local
villagers saying the dead included of a senior Arab commander.
U.S. drone strikes have escalated this month, hitting targets
in tribal areas several times a week, but the latest strike comes just days
after U.S. and British combat troops in neighboring Afghanistan officially
ended their operations.
"The bodies were taken to an unknown location after the
attack. We heard from local militants that there was a senior Arab commander
but they didn't mention his name," said one villager in South Waziristan.
Another villager, who also spoke anonymously, said a number
of "foreign guests" were staying in the targeted house after fleeing
a major military offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan.
Drone strikes stopped while the Pakistani government pursued
ultimately fruitless peace talks with the Taliban insurgency but resumed four
days before the military announced an anti-Taliban offensive in North
Waziristan in June.
Death tolls from drone strikes are often disputed and North
Waziristan, a mountainous region along the Afghan border, is currently off
limits to journalists. The Taliban also seal the sites of many strikes.
Foreign militants including al Qaeda-linked Arabs and Uzbeks
are holed up in the remote mountains on the Afghan border alongside their
Pashtun Taliban hosts, planning and staging attacks together.
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