Dawn : Missile attack on Pakistan militant camp kills nine

Missile attack on Pakistan militant camp kills nine

AFP | November 2, 2007

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan -- A missile strike destroyed an insurgent hideout in Pakistan's North Waziristan region at a house once owned by the late military chief of the Taliban, killing nine people, witnesses and sources said.

Residents and local sources said drones flew over the site in the village of Danday Darpakhel, just about two kms from Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, before two missiles hit the site, one of which exploded and destroyed the house formerly owned by Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah who was killed in May in southern Afghanistan.

Drones are usually operated by US-led forces in Afghanistan and were used in a failed January 2006 attack on Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistan's tribal region.

“There was a roar in the sky. We feared it was an air raid but we saw no jets. Then there was a huge blast,” Noor Mohammad, a student at a religious school near the main town of Miranshah, told AFP.

Local sources said at least nine militants were killed and 12 others wounded in the blast.

Two foreign militants -- usually associated with Al-Qaeda in the tribal regions -- were among the dead, they said, quoting injured rebels.

They said the house was used as a training camp and explosives store by insurgents loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistani-based Taliban militants who have been blamed for a string of attacks in this country.

“The blast was next to a defunct religious school formerly run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban commander with a five-million-dollar bounty on his head who is said to be close to the regime's leader, Mullah Omar.

Pakistan's chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said his forces were not involved but added that local officials were checking the cause of the blast.

“(The) army has not fired any weapon in the area,” he told AFP.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said there was no activity reported on the Pakistani border, while the NATO-led ISAF said they had no information.

(Updated Posted @ 17:55 PST Updated @ 18:18 PST)