Dozens killed in Waziristan drone attacks

ISLAMABAD (PAN): Up to 28 people have been killed in US drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan, according to officials and witnesses in the area.

The first strike on Monday evening targeted a vehicle in Nashtar Valley of the Shawal area in South Waziristan, a local official said on condition of anonymity.

Three foreigners were among eight fighters killed in the attack, he said.

Another drone fired two missiles on a house about two hours after the first incident, inflicting casualties on more than 10 people in the Manto area of the town, he added.

Another security official said the missile attack targeted a local Taliban commander named Adam Khan, and that several foreigners were among the insurgents killed.

However, a resident of the area, Hajji Malak Dildar, said that 20 civilians were killed and several others injured in the second attack.

Separately, in the North Waziristan capital of Miranshah on Monday, unidentified gunmen on motorcycle shot dead a spokesman for the Fidayeen-e-Islam Group of the Taliban, Shakirullah Shakir.

The assailants managed to flee after the attack, said a local resident, Abdul Wadood.

Shakir was known as a key Taliban commander who trained more than a thousand suicide bombers in the area, he said.

myn/at