US drones kill 15 militants

July 07, 2012

RECORDER REPORT

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A triple US drone attack on a militant compound in north-western tribal area killed at least 15 insurgents late Friday, security officials said. Three unmanned aircraft fired a total of six missiles on Datta Khel village, some 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district, they said.

The initial strike on a house killed nine militants, three more were killed in a second attack when they drove to the site to recover dead bodies, and a third drone killed three more five minutes later, a senior security official in Peshawar told AFP.

"At least 15 militants have been killed in these three drone strikes and the drones fired a total of six missiles," the official said. Two security officials in Miranshah confirmed all the three strikes but told AFP that at least 20 militants have been killed. Datta Khel is considered to be a stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a Taliban commander who is accused of sending fighters across the border to fight Nato troops in Afghanistan. It was the first drone attack since Islamabad reached a deal with Washington to reopen land routes into Afghanistan after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was sorry for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike in November.