Pakistan: 12 Dead In Suspected U.S. Strike

Officials Say Missile Attack Near Afghan Border Killed Mostly Militants

(CBS/AP)  Two suspected U.S. missile strikes Friday on villages close to the border with Afghanistan killed at least 12 people, most of them militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

American forces recently ramped up cross-border operations against Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's border zone with Afghanistan - a region considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

Two missiles believed to have been fired from U.S. unmanned drones launched from neighboring Afghanistan hit the villages in North Waziristan just before dusk, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

A missile strike in one village killed at least 12 people, while there were no reported casualties in the other, they said. The officials did not identify the victims.

Chief Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said officers were investigating the reported strikes, but could not confirm them. U.S. officials in Afghanistan or Washington rarely acknowledge the attacks.

Earlier this week, officials said that a suspected U.S. missile strike on a Taliban commander's home in Pakistan killed six people late Tuesday.

Pakistan says the attacks often result in civilian casualties and serve to fan extremism. American officials complain that Pakistan was unwilling or unable to act against the militants, straining ties between the two anti-terror allies.

Militants in the border region are blamed for rising attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and attacks within Pakistan, including the Sept. 20 truck bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed more than 50 people.

On Friday, Pakistan's Interior Minister chief Rehman Malik said the country's war against Islamic extremists will go on until it is "terrorism-free."

Previous Pakistani military campaigns against Islamic militants in the wild tribal belt along the Afghan frontier were halted too soon, he said - an apparent reference to the policies of former President Pervez Musharraf.

Malik said the current government, which came to power after February elections and forced Musharraf to resign in July, will fight until militants are either killed or forced to flee Pakistan.

"There is no other option," Malik told Express News television. "We will not stop any operation unless we reach its logical conclusion. That means that this war will continue until we make Pakistan terrorism-free."

Pakistan's army is battling militants in at least three areas of the northwest. The most intense fighting has been in the Bajur tribal region, where the military claims to have killed 1,000 rebels for the loss of about 60 troops.

Reports surfaced this week indicating that prominent Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was seriously ill or even dead, though officials said reports of his death were likely premature. If Mehsud has died, or does soon, CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reports his absence would mark a significant symbolic setback to the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the country's faltering efforts so far to extinguish the militant threat have been met with a blur of suicide bombings that have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, according to army statistics released this week.

The U.N. reacted to the hotel blast on Thursday by ordering the children of its international staff out of the city - putting it on a par with trouble spots such as Kabul, Afghanistan and Mogadishu, Somalia.

It insisted the move was temporary and would not affect its operations.

Britain announced Wednesday it was repatriating its diplomats' children and other countries may follow suit. Pakistan has long been a non-family posting for U.S. diplomatic staff.

[legacyabq]

Im referring to an earlier post of yours.
Im sorry man, but if you think we should have invaded Pakistan, you are not sane.

[legacyabq]

Hahahha MrCrosby,

You think we should have invaded PAKISTAN instead of Iraq????????
***. is a modern world power, um hello ignorant dumass they have NUCLEAR WEAPONS !!!!!!!!
Do you know ANYTHING about world politics?
ANYTHING?
Invade! Invade! Invade!
Do you actually think this would work?
Why dont you stop posting until you get an education?
I cant stand to read stupid posts like yours.

[txlakeside]

Hey wimp ... why don''t you enlist, go over there and take care of the issue for us .... nahhh. Your just a one line wimp with no real plan! If you are not too chicken you are too old for the military and would rather spend your time being a ignorant redneck lemming that follws the piper.

Either or, folks like you are the real problem in the world. One line zingers against a candidate is no solution. McCain has no better plan than more of the same which has accomplished nothing.

Diplomacy and world support for any intervention is the only solution. Kill one terrorist and ten more appear. Convert onr terrorist and you start to convert a country.

[kretos_ds]

good job keep killing innocent people ! thats our main job ...

[joeyfoto]

"Al Qada produces exotic tar heroin from potent poppies. The narcotic craved by drug Addicts is worth millions of dollars on the street."

I don''t think you know any more about politics than you do about drugs. "Tar heroin" is made in Mexico. Pakistani heroin is brown crystal or powder. There is nothing ''exotic'' about Pakistani heroin. And as much of an idiot as George Bush is, he is not providing "immunity" to Bin Laden anywhere, however elements within Pakistani Intelligence service probably are...jt

[tapsettle]

12? Too bad it wasn''t 12 thousand or 12 million.
-----
Posted by michaelt302

By the time americas ''war on terror'' is finished, it will be a lot more than 12 million americans that will have died. If there are many that think as you do, then that will be a very good thing.

[tapsettle]

What a joke of a country. You tell Russia et al that they must respect the territory of other countries, and yet you invade several and bomb others. You tell ALL the other countries of the world that they must not intervene in financial markets, that market forces must be allowed to prevail, and then you do the opposite. You are a stupid joke america, and now you have sold your soul. Perhaps you thought you were already in such serious debt that another $700 bn wouldnt make any difference. Stupid mistake. Now you really are destroyed as those you have relentlessly provoked now OWN you. Stupid stupid america - good riddance to a stupid superpower.

[gce65]

Wait a week or two. Another hotel or restaurant where Americans and westerners gather will get bombed as retaliation.

[ajaxtheleast]

It will be nightime,,,,maybe two AM.

A deserted American out-of-the-way beach.

Dark,,,no moon.

An American submarine surfaces.

Dark-clad bodies slink up the beach,

scamper to a highway,

hike their way back home,,,,,

the returning U.S. drone pilots

knock on the back door

seeing if it will be

opened for them,,,and,,,,and,,,

[siobama]

Republicans are desperately looking for 4 more years of government.

[dronemonk]

There''s still propaganda addled citizens pimping/fearing Osama? Culture of fear, man. It''s H.L. Mencken''s hobgoblins all over again:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
~H. L. Mencken

[petro49l]

The Pakistani Army swore to defend Osama Bin Laden in his Waziristan sanctuary. Osama enjoys virtual immunity provided by George W. Bush. Islamabad discourages Coalition activity within Pakistan. Al Qada produces exotic tar heroin from potent poppies. The narcotic craved by drug Addicts is worth millions of dollars on the street. If Al Qada could make more tar heroin, terror groups all over the world would receive funds.

[inventagod2]

Brutal Bu$h wants to leave office with a legacy...

[libluv2cnsor]

the charade is over pakistan. time to play the game.

shoot the drones that shoots terrorists and lets see who wins

[gotagrip]

I think it is interesting that Pakistan has been prepared for war with the huge population of India but can''t even handle its own bandits. What a bunch of worthless wimps. They are lucky that they haven''t had to fight an all-out war with a real country. When will they stand up and really fight for their country? Is it because many actually side with the extremists? If so, why do we send millions to prop up their regime?