ISLAMABAD: Thirty two people, mostly Uzbek Al-Qaeda operatives, were killed in suspected US drone attack in Ladha town of South Waziristan yesterday.
Two missiles fired by an unmanned drone struck the camp of top Taleban commander Baitullah Mehsud in the tribal area of Ladha near the Afghan border, they said, adding Mehsud was not in the camp at the time of the raid.
Two Arabs, some local Taleban and a number of Uzbeks were killed in the strike, the latest in a series of such attacks which have drawn strong protest from Pakistan.
“The death toll in the twin missile strikes has jumped to 32,” a security source said, revising upward the earlier toll of 20.
Local officials said six militants were wounded in the attack, but did not disclose their identities.
Residents said Taleban militants surrounded the attack site, which was in an isolated area, and would not let anyone inside. The building was completely destroyed and number of bodies were buried in the rubble.
The latest drone strike came despite Pakistan’s hopes that the administration of US President Barack Obama would review the policy and abandon what Islamabad has called a violation of its sovereignty.
Several Al-Qaeda operatives have been killed in similar US missile strikes in the past year.
Former President Pervez Muharraf yesterday said, “During my tenure there was no agreement between Pakistan and the United States regarding drone attacks inside Pakistan.”
The US strikes have fuelled anti-American sentiments in Pakistan and particularly in the tribal belt, where Washington says Al-Qaeda and Taleban sanctuaries exist. The lawless tribal areas in northwest Pakistan have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taleban and Al-Qaeda rebels sought refuge in the region after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taleban regime in late 2001.
In January a US drone attack killed the head of Al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan, Kenyan national Usama Al-Kini, and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan in South Waziristan.
A US drone attack in November killed Rashid Rauf, the alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic airplane bombing plot, as well as an Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative, security officials have said.
More than two dozen similar strikes have been carried out since August 2008, killing more than 200 people, most of them militants.
Most of the previous US strikes targeted areas under the control of Maulvi Nazir, a key Taleban commander accused by the United States of recruiting and sending fighters to Afghanistan to attack US and NATO forces.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said yesterday it had some “good leads” in the effort to free a kidnapped American UN official after his captors set a 72-hour deadline to kill him if their demands were not met.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik traveled to Quetta to oversee efforts to secure the release of John Solecki, who was kidnapped at gunpoint last week.
“We have sufficient good leads which I cannot share right now. I hope to God and pray to God and Insha Allah we will succeed in recovering him,” Malik told reporters after meeting top officials.
In another development, Malik said Pakistan may ask India for custody of the only gunman to survive the Mumbai attacks to strengthen its prosecution of those behind the assault.
Pakistani investigators lodged a police complaint against eight suspects, including Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani militant caught alive by Indian forces during the attack that killed at least 179 people between Nov. 26 and 28.
“If investigators recommend it and the court asked for him, then definitely we will do that,” he said.
— With input from agencies
