By DPA,
Islamabad : More than 50 people were killed Wednesday in two separate strikes by US pilotless aircraft on Taliban in Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal region near Afghan border, security officials said.
Five missiles fired allegedly by a US drone targeted a motor convoy of Islamist insurgents in Sararogha area of South Waziristan, a safe haven of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters launching cross border attacks on US-led international forces in Afghanistan.
“More than 40 Taliban died in the deadly attack and around a dozen more were injured. The missile strike also destroyed five vehicles of Taliban,” said a local intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The attack came hours after US Predator drones targeted a hilltop militant hideout near Karwan Manza village in the restive South Waziristan in a pre-dawn assault.
“Ten militants have been confirmed dead and another three wounded in the strike on the Taliban position,” another intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
All those killed in the two attacks were fighters of the top Pakistani Taliban commander and Al Qaeda facilitator, Baitullah Mehsud.
Mehsud’s people have suffered heavy losses and they are very angry. We are expecting some major retaliatory action from him in near future,” said the security official.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any foreign militants among the dead.
The US has carried out more than 40 drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern region this year, killing dozens of Taliban and Al Qaeda rebels.
Pakistan has protested the US drone attacks, saying they complicated its efforts against militancy by fuelling anti-American sentiment in the country.