6 suspected militants killed, 2 injured in SWA drone attack

6 suspected militants killed, 2 injured in SWA drone attack

By Saleem Mehsud

WANA, April 13 : Six suspected militants were killed and two others sustained injuries in three US unmanned predator drone strikes which targeted two vehicles and a motorcycle in separate attacks in Baghar area of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on Wednesday.

Official sources said that the drones fired six missiles in which a pick up van a car and a motorcycle were targeted in Baghar area, 14 kilometres from Pak-Afghan border in Wana, the headquarters of SWA and inhabited by Wazir tribe, killing six suspected militants and injuring two others.

Locals rushed to the targeted spot and retrieved the bodies and the injured. However, identities of the deceased were not yet ascertained. The injured were shifted to the Angoor Adda hospital.

The political administration has confirmed the killing of the suspected militants and destroying of vehicles and bike in the drone strikes.

It was the first drone strike reported in Pakistan since March 17, when 39 people, mostly civilians, died in Dattakhel drone attack that further shook the fragile alliance between Pakistan and the United States in the war on militants.

This was the first US drone strike in the tribal belt of Pakistan which is considered by the US as stronghold and breeding place of the militants after Pakistani intelligence chief General Shuja Pasha returned home on Monday night after holding important meeting with the CIA chief Leon Panetta.

Sources said that Taliban Commander Maulvi Nazir Wazir hold influence over the area where the drone strike targeted suspected militants and is on good terms with the Pakistani government.

Maulvi Nazir is not the member of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) headed by Hakimullah Mehsud, successor of TTP former chief Baitullah Mehsud, and rather had concluded peace deal with the government.

Two years earlier, Maulvi Nazir had waged war against Uzbeks and Chechen fighters along with the armed forces in Wana and forced them to leave the area of Wazir tribe which earned bad name for him in the Taliban quarters. The fleeing militants were given refuge by the TTP slain chief Baitullah in SWA’s Mehsud tribe area.

It is pertinent to be mentioned here that SWA is inhabited by two major tribes -- Mehsud and Wazir. In SWA the Mehsud tribe occupies large territory of the tribal region and greater in number as compared to Wazir tribe there area was still abandoned as Mehsud tribesmen had deserted their native town due to military operation initiated against militants loyal to TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud last year while the Wazir tribesmen were living in Wana.