ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 14, 2009
U.S. Drone Allegedly Kills 27 In Pakistan
Intelligence Officials Say Suspected U.S. Missile Strikes Militant Hideout In S. Waziristan
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Special Report War On Terror Complete coverage of the military's battle against terrorism.
Several more purported militants were wounded in the attack in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border where al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding.
The new U.S. administration has brushed off Pakistani criticism that the missile strikes fuel religious extremism and boost anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed nation.
Pilotless U.S. aircraft are believed to have launched more than 30 attacks since July, and American officials say al Qaeda's leadership has been decimated. Pakistani officials say the vast majority of the victims are civilians.
Taliban fighters surrounded the compound targeted Saturday in the village of Shrawangai Nazarkhel and carried away the dead and wounded in several vehicles.
Intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the victims included about 15 ethnic Uzbek militants and several Afghans. Their seniority was unclear.
Two of the officials said dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, were staying in the housing compound when it was hit.
Pakistan's former government and the CIA have named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto near Islamabad. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al Qaeda, and of training suicide bombers.
The accounts of Saturday's incident could not be verified independently. The tribally governed region is unsafe for reporters. The U.S. Embassy had no comment, while Pakistani government and army spokesman were unavailable.
Pakistani leaders told visiting American envoy Richard Holbrooke earlier this week that the missile strikes kill too many civilians and undermine the government's own counterinsurgency strategy.
Still, many analysts suspect that Pakistan has tacitly consented to the attacks in order not to endanger billions of dollars in American and Western support for its powerful military and its ailing economy.
Pakistan's pro-Western government, led by Bhutto widower Asif Ali Zardari, has signed peace deals with tribal leaders in the northwest while launching a series of military operations of its own against hard-liners.
However, government forces are bogged down in several regions and Taliban militants have sustained a campaign that has included a string of kidnappings and other attacks on foreigners.
(AP Photo/Online Photos via APTN)
Gunmen seized John Solecki on Feb. 2 after shooting his driver to death as they drove to work in Quetta, a city near the Afghan border.
The kidnappers identified themselves as the Baluchistan Liberation United Front, suggesting a link to local separatists rather than the Taliban or al Qaeda. They are demanding the release of hundreds of people allegedly held in Pakistan.
But officials say the group is unknown and has yet to contact the United Nations. Fears for Solecki's safety are intense after Taliban militants apparently beheaded an abducted Polish geologist. If confirmed, the Pole's slaying would be the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since American journalist Daniel Pearl was killed in 2002.
Zardari said in a television interview that the Taliban had expanded their presence to a "huge amount" of Pakistan and were eyeing a takeover of the state.
He sought to counter the view of many Pakistanis that the country is fighting Islamist militants, who have enjoyed state support in the past, only at Washington's behest.
"We're fighting for the survival of Pakistan. We're not fighting for the survival of anybody else," Zardari said, according to a transcript of his remarks that CBS said it would air Sunday.
By Associated Press Writer Munir Ahmad; AP writer Ishtiaq Mahsud from Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 88 CommentsIsn''t that the approach that everybody hate Bush and Rice for?
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.Habakkuk Chapter 1-2
Suitcase nuke? You ever seen a nuke that would fit in a suitcase? Besides, it would start a nuke war that would take out all the bad guy cities. The U.S. has 12,000 nukes of the megaton variety and the means to deliver them.
Obama said that if Israel was attacked by nuclear weapons the U.S. would respond with lightning force. That was Israel, just imagine what would happen if the U.S. was nuked.
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People are not the problem but the extremists, such as you, are the problem to peace in this world. You are a brutal, mindless barbarian who does not have any ability to understand what you read whatsoever. You are clearly a person whose ability to %u201Creason%u201D extends to using force and violence and a first resort and bullets, rather than rational communication, as your only logic. You are not the solution; you are the problem.
You did notice we changed Presidents almost a month ago? January 20, in case you were dozing that week.
You do know that Obama has signed off on ALL of these missile attacks?
It used to be Bush''s war, but NOW is Obama''s war.
And, these missile attacks are one of the few things I agree with Obama on.
Go Obama, kill them all!!!!
+ report abuse
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do you feel like obama betrayed you?
"A suspected U.S. missile strike by a drone aircraft flattened a militant hide-out in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 27 local and foreign insurgents, intelligence officials said."
Insurgents the article said, Insurgents. Bad people, who cut off heads and attack Pakistan and NATO troops.
This is Obama, all the way. Bush is gone, Obama is in charge, and has to personally authorize all missions into Pakistan.
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Posted by nincomp at 01:11 AM : Feb 15, 2009
You mean, like the Israelis were driven out of so many other places throughout history?
When the Israelis arrived in Israel, the Palestinians were driven out of a place where they had only recently arrived as refugees after being driven out of someplace else. That was more than sixty years ago. That''s two generations.
You''d think the Palestinians would have settled in someplace else by now.
Like the Israelis had to do so many times.
Posted by kuching88 at 04:20 AM : Feb 15, 2009
It distracts us from looking too hard at the demigods.
pachtoon.blogspot.com
Of course, to make you comfortable so that you may sleep better tonight, everything is nicely sugar-coated for you by your criminal politicians and Zionist occupied media. Local people are boiling over the violation of their liberty, sovereignty, and their dignity. Dignity is taken seriously in other parts of the world which is missing altogether in American culture. I hope these "terrorist attacks" stop soon or the whole region will rise against you.
ALso read my article to give you insight
pachtton.blogspot.com
Posted by corey24444 at 09:09 PM : Feb 14, 2009
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This makes Obama much better than Bush who made people feel scared and got their votes. The scared people didn''t think that Bush was the worst person for the job.
Posted by IndependentI at 10:07 PM : Feb 14, 2009
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Palestinians are in the refugee camps of Sabira and Shatila in Lebanon because Israelis drove them out of their lands.
I agree. I believe the *** government cries loud anger but is happy to have the terrorist whacked.
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