By DPA,
Islamabad: A suspected US missile strike killed at least six people in northwest Pakistan while two soldiers and an equal number of Taliban extremists died in ongoing fighting in the region, officials said on Friday.
A pilotless US drone aircraft fired two Hellfire guided missiles on two residential compounds used by the Taliban in Gariwam village in the tribal district of North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.
“Our local informers say six Taliban died in the attack while several people were injured in the attack,” said an intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Taliban militants surrounded the area soon after the attack and started retrieving the dead bodies out of the rubble of the houses.
The US has carried out more than 40 strikes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt from where fighters from the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorist network regularly conduct cross-border raids on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.
North Waziristan is a stronghold of local Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Afghan commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is believed to be involved in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan, including an attempt on the life of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Separately, two soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing and two Islamist militants died in a raid on their bunkers in Swat and Dir districts of the neighbouring North West Frontier Province.
Thousands of Pakistani military and paramilitary troops launched an operation in the districts two months ago to expel the local Taliban, who backed out of a purported deal with the government to implement Islamic law and moved dangerously close to the capital, Islamabad.
After a bloody campaign resulting in the death of more than 1,700 militants and more than 160 soldiers, according to the government, the army last week announced the clearing of a major town, paving the way for the return of more than 1.9 million people displaced by the fighting.
The Taliban have lost strongholds in the northwest but frequently attack the military, which is conducting search operations in the areas captured from the militants in Swat and three neighbouring districts.