Deaths in Pakistan 'US strikes'

22/12/2008| IslamWeb

A suspected US missile strike has killed at least seven people in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.

One missile hit a vehicle in the village of Wana killing four people, while another strike killed three in a nearby village, both in South Waziristan on Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

"Tribesmen opened fire on the drones after the attacks," a resident of Wana told Reuters news agency.

The region, which borders Afghanistan, is a centre for Taliban and al-Qaeda activity.

Afghan deaths

The strikes came a day after Taliban fighters killed two Afghan brothers in northwestern Pakistan, for allegedly working as spies for US forces fighting group in and around the border region.

Pakistani police found the bodies strewn with bullets in an abandoned village in North Waziristan, khan Zada, a local police official said.

A note signed by the Taliban was left with the bodies. It said that the brothers were from the Afghan city of Khost, near the Pakistan border, and had been abducted and killed.

The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001. However, the remnants of the regime have regrouped and they stage attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The US continues to make strikes against the Taliban in the Waziristan region, with related civilian deaths angering the Pakistani people and government.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map locating South Waziristan in Pakistan where a suspected US missile strike killed at least eight fighters on Monday, according to officials.

Al-Jazeera