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12 militants killed in North Waziristan missile strike

* Security officials say five of the dead were foreign militants
* Local residents suspect involvement of US drone
* Soldier killed, 4 injured in South Waziristan

MIRANSHAH: Twelve occupants of a ‘guest house’ in North Waziristan were killed in what local residents said was a missile attack, hours after gunmen held 300 children hostage at a nearby school, security officials said on Tuesday.

The officials said five of the 12 dead were foreign militants. The attack came in the early hours in Khushali Wazir village, five kilometres south of Mir Ali where the presence of foreign militants is widely suspected.

The guest house belonged to local elder Abdul Sattar, residents in Mir Ali and official sources in Miranshah and Peshawar told Daily Times.

“We have reports of 12 casualties, some of which are believed to be Arabs,” officials, asking not to be named, told Daily Times by phone.

Intelligence officials suspect the dead were pro-Taliban militants, but residents said they were tribesmen staying at the house of a local elder. It was not clear where the missiles were fired from. Residents, however, insisted an unmanned spy plane, of a type often used by US forces in Afghanistan, was involved in the attack. The plane is capable of firing missiles and taking photographs from a considerable altitude.

“We recognise the sound and shape of the American drone and two such planes have been hovering in the sky since Monday afternoon, and people have seen them over Mir Ali and Miranshah,” said local residents.

“Local Taliban cordoned off the area and barred everyone from coming near the guest house,” Noorullah Dawar, a shopkeeper in Mir Ali, told Daily Times by phone.

Not allowing local residents to look at the destroyed guest house has significance, according to the officials, who said the situation had made them believe that militants wanted to quickly remove the bodies so as to leave no trace of the presence of foreign militants. Abdul Sattar, according to local residents, is a member of a gang allegedly involved in kidnapping for ransom, car snatching and “facilitating local and foreign militants”. There was no independent confirmation of this.

Sattar was using the place hit by missiles for ‘guests’, while he was living in a separate home nearby. Sattar, said locals, was not present at the time of the attack.

A militant source told Daily Times by phone that five men “speaking the language of the holy Quran” were among the dead, suggesting that Arab militants were among the victims.

Soldier killed: Also on Tuesday in neighbouring South Waziristan, a soldier was killed and four injured in heavy fighting at Shishamwan village, the army said.

Late on Monday night, militants blew up a Khasadar checkpost in the Aato Khel area of Halimzai tehsil in Mohmand Agency, but no casualties were reported.

Sources said the checkpost was located around 30 kilometers north of agency headquarters Ghalanai. staff report/afp

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