Last week’s attempted car bombing in New York City has added to pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants who have long had safe havens along the Afghan border. Top US officials said Sunday they believe the Pakistani Taleban directed the plot.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington expects more cooperation from Pakistan in fighting terrorism and warned of “severe consequences” if an attack on US soil were traced back to the South Asian country.
Her comments mark something of a change in America’s public stance toward Pakistan, which in recent months has been characterized by praise, not criticism. She made the remarks in an interview with CBS television’s “60 Minutes” that were broadcast late Sunday.
The missile strikes Sunday were in North Waziristan, which has been the target of nearly all of the some 30 other American attacks this year. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the two missiles hit the house of local tribesman Awal Gul in Enzer Kasa village of the Datta Khel area. Ten people were killed, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Nine of those killed by the strike were militants, said a senior army official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. It was not immediately clear whether Gul had any ties to militant groups.
Pakistan, a key US ally, officially protests the strikes on its territory as violations of its sovereignty, but it is believed to aid them. The US rarely discusses the unmanned-drone-fired strikes, which are part of a covert CIA program.
In recent months, North Waziristan has become a new haven for Pakistani Taleban leaders who have fled a Pakistani army offensive in their previous stronghold, neighboring South Waziristan.
Despite US pressure, the Pakistani army has held off on waging an offensive against other militant networks based in North Waziristan because it does not want to antagonize powerful insurgent groups there that have so far attacked only targets in Afghanistan.
On Sunday morning, Pakistani army helicopters pounded insurgent hide-outs in the Orakzai tribal region, killing 23 militants, local official Jahanzeb Khan said.
Pakistan security forces are carrying out an operation against insurgents who escaped the military offensive in South Waziristan. Some have taken refuge in the Orakzai tribal region, which lies next to North Waziristan.
