Once again,US drones swoop Pak,kill 10 militants

This was the third drone attack in last 24 hours bringing the toll of terrorists killed to 21. Officials fear that it could rise higher as many people were suspected to be trapped in the debris and most of those killed are believed to be Arab fighters of Al Qaeda.

The concentrated wave of drone attacks,came as apparently the US and Pakistani intelligence suspected that a high value Al Qaeda target had been taken out in the first attacks yesterday.

After yesterday’s attack,Arab fighters from Al Qaeda were seen establishing a three kilometre cordon around the strike site in Datta Khel.

“The presence of large number of Arabs indicates that a high value target may have been present”,US War Journal reported.

It said,the Arab Al Qaeda fighters could be from the Black Guard,praetorians used to guard Al Qaeda’s top commanders including Osama bin Laden,Ayman al Zawahiri or Sheikh Saeed al Masri,the three of the world’s most wanted Men.

The Arabs could also be from the Lashkar al Zil or the Shadow Army,Al Qaeda’s military force,the US journal said.

In the first strike,drones fired five missiles at a militant hideout in Humzoni area,10 km east of Miranshah,the main town in North Waziristan Agency.

At least five militants were killed and several others injured in the attack.

The drones targeted a vehicle in Datta Khel area in the second attack.

Two missiles were fired at the vehicle,killing another five militants. A nearby house was also destroyed.

All the strikes were carried out in the region considered to be a stronghold of Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur,Al Qaeda and allied Pakistani and Central Asian jihadi groups.

The terrorists,US War Journal said,were running militant training camps and had safe houses in the region. The Pakistani Army had turned down US request for a military campaign in the area,indicating it has no plans to take on Gul Bahadur or the Haqqani network,a deadly Taliban group that is closely allied with Al Qaeda.

So far this year,US has carried out 22 strikes in Pakistan,all of them over North Waziristan.

Since December 2009,the air campaign over Pakistan has killed four senior Al Qaeda operatives,a top Taliban commander and two other Al Qaeda commanders.

The fate of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud as well as a member of Al Qaeda’s top council and a wanted Phillipino terrorist is still not known.

Meanwhile,President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday again asked the US to provide advanced drone technology to Pakistan so that the country’s armed forces could carry out attacks on militants.

Such operations by Pakistani troops would have “wider public acceptability” than the drone strikes carried out by the US,he said.