13 killed in US drone strike in Pakistan
Saturday, 24 October 2009A missile strike by a US drone has killed at least 13 militants in a Pakistani tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
The missile hit the house of Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir in the tribal region of Bajaur, a government official said.
A security official said that a tunnel linked to a bunker in the house of a relative of the local Tehreek-e-Taliban chief was targeted.
Some relatives of Mr Mohammad are among the dead and eight others were injured in the strike, he said, adding that three foreign militants were killed.
There were reports that Mr Mohammad himself had been in the house but left 10 minutes before the strike, he said.
Pakistani security forces launched a huge operation against Islamist militants in Bajaur last August. In February, they claimed the area had been cleared but unrest has rumbled on.
Hundreds of extremists are believed to have fled Afghanistan into Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas to carve out safe havens after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in Kabul in late 2001.
