'US drone' strikes Pakistan village

22/11/2008| IslamWeb

A missile attack thought to have been carried out by an unmanned US drone has killed at least three people in northwest Pakistan.

 

Pakistani officials said on Saturday that the aerial bombardment targeted a house near Mir Ali, a small town in North Waziristan.

 

"The strike destroyed a militant hideout in the village of Alikhel in North Waziristan," a senior security official told the AFP news agency.

 

The US military has increased the number of raids against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban bases in recent months.

 

Raids stepped up

 

The latest raid comes days after Abdullah Azzam al-Saudi, a senior member of al-Qaeda, was killed along with six others in a suspected US missile strike in northwest Pakistan.

 

Al-Saudi was suspected by Washington of being the main link between al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Pakistan.

 

Most of the US raids against suspected opposition fighters have been carried out by pilotless drones.

 

The Pakistani government has spoken out against regular air raids by the US, saying that they alienate the population.

 

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, said recently that Islamabad will not tolerate any compromise to the country's sovereignty.

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

Pakistan map locating North Waziristan

 

Al-Jazeera