U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

US drones have fired missiles into inaccessible border
 areas such as North Waziristan since 2004 [Reuters]

ISLAMABAD | Pakistan | 06 Sep 2013 :: At least six people were killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal areas early Friday, according to government officials and local news reports.

The strike was directed at a house in the Ghulam Khan area of the North Waziristan tribal region, close to the border with Afghanistan.

A senior Haqqani network commander was killed, a security official said. The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the ranking Haqqani official in the region, Sangin Zadran, had been killed. “He was the most influential commander in the area,” the official said. “The Americans had been after him for a long time.”

North Waziristan has long been a haven for Taliban and Qaeda militants.

American drone strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, and opposition to them has become an essential staple of local politics and grievances against the United States. Pakistani politicians and government officials condemn the missile strikes, which are directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Opposition politicians like Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party, have campaigned against the strikes, saying that they result more in civilian casualties than militant killings. In October 2012, Mr. Khan led a big protest rally to the edges of the tribal regions against the use of drones on Pakistani soil.

The number of drone strikes has, however, dropped sharply in recent months. The last strike occurred on Aug. 31, when at least four suspected militants were killed in an attack in North Waziristan.(Courtesy:New york times)Read More>>>

5 Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in encounter with security forces.

5 Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in encounter with security forces.

Jammu and Kashmir | 30 Aug 2013 :: Five militants - all believed to be Pakistan nationals - were killed in an encounter with police and Army in Kangan area of Ganderbal district in Kashmir valley on Friday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Ganderbal Shahid Meraj Rather told The Hinduthat Hizbul Mujahideen's Assadullah group was wiped out when troops of Rashtriya Rifles 24th battalion and the police engaged the militants in a gunfight at Prang on Najwan ridge of forest, close to Srinagar-Leh highway, at 1.30 a.m. He said that the ambush had been laid after the security forces learned about the militants' possible passage across Sindh river through a source information.

“The encounter took place when the militants were crossing the river. All the five militants were killed. There was no collateral damage,” Mr. Rather said. Five AK rifles were also recovered.

Mr. Rather said that the militants killed in the encounter included a Pashtu speaking commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Assadullah who was believed to be from NWFP area of Pakistan. He was known to be operating in Kangan area for a long time.

Friday's encounter is rated as a major achievement for police and security forces in the valley as it is for the first time this year in the hinterland that five militants have been killed in a single operation.

Significantly, the number of police and armed forces personnel killed in the last eight months of the year is more than that in the corresponding period of any year during Omar Abdullah's rule.

Senior Army officials would be sharing more details in a news briefing later.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

US drones kill 12 in 3 airstrikes: Yemen official.

US drones kill 12 in 3 airstrikes: Yemen official.

File photo shows a Predator B unmanned aircraft taxis at the
 Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. Two U.S. drone strike
 killed a total of nine suspected al-Qaida militants on Thursday,
 Aug. 8, 2013, a Yemeni military official said, the sixth and seventh
such attacks in less than two weeks as the Arab nation
is on high alert against terrorism.

YEMEN | AP | 09 AUG 2013 ::  The U.S. has sharply escalated its drone war in Yemen, with military officials in the Arab country reporting 34 suspected al-Qaida militants killed in less than two weeks, including three strikes on Thursday alone in which a dozen died.

The action against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen branch is known, comes amid a global terror alert issued by Washington. One Mideast official says the uptick is due to its leaders leaving themselves more vulnerable by moving from their normal hideouts toward areas where they could carry out attacks.

The U.S. and Britain evacuated diplomatic staff from the capital of Sanaa this week after learning of a threatened attack that prompted Washington to close temporarily 19 diplomatic posts in the Middle East and Africa.

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department warned Americans not to travel to Pakistan and ordered nonessential government personnel to leave the U.S. Consulate in Lahore because of a specific threat to that diplomatic mission.

Thursday’s first reported drone attack hit a car carrying suspected militants in the district of Wadi Ubaidah, about 175 kilometers (109 miles) east of Sanaa, and killed six, a security official said.

Badly burned bodies lay beside their vehicle, according to the official. Five of the dead were Yemenis, while the sixth was believed to be of another Arab nationality, he said.

The second drone attack killed three alleged militants in the al-Ayoon area of Hadramawt province in the south, the official said. The third, also in Hadramawt province, killed three more suspected militants in the al-Qutn area, he added.(Courtesy:The Hindu)