US drone attack kills 7, Pakistan condemns

A suspected US drone aircraft killed at least seven militants in Pakistan`s ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, Pakistani security officials said.

Islamabad: Pakistan has strongly condemned a US drone strike at Ghulam Khan Tehsil in North Waziristan that claimed six lives early Friday morning.

A foreign office spokesman said in a statement that these unilateral strikes are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. The spokesman said Pakistan has repeatedly emphasised the importance of bringing an immediate end to such drone strikes. The Pakistan government, he said, has consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications. At least six people were killed in an attack by US drones in Pakistan`s North Waziristan tribal region early Friday, security officials said. The US drone fired two missiles at a compound close to the Afghan border, IRNA reported. The house was destroyed in the attack, residents said. The Friday attack was the second US strike in the same region in a week, IRNA reported. A US drone killed at least four people in Heso Khel area, east of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan on August 31. Pakistani officials have long been involved in talks with the US to find out a solution to the drone issue. US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested last week that the drone strikes targeting Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan could end "very soon" as the threat of militancy recedes. IANS