A drone strike in Pakistan is believed to have killed four suspected militants, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. The drone strike is suspected to be carried out by the United States.
Two missiles apparently hit a room of an abandoned seminary building in Mussaki village in North Waziristan on Saturday. The region has seen several reported US drone strikes in the past.
While the nationality of the dead was not immediately known, ABC News reports that militants from Turkmenistan were among those in the seminary building at the time.
North Waziristan is known to be home to Pakistani, Afghan, and al-Qaida-linked foreign militias. The strike happened close to Mir Ali , according to The New York Times . The city is a hub for Islamic militants.
The paper added that one missile hit a building and the other hit a nearby parked vehicle. The majority of CIA drone strikes have happened in North Waziristan.
An unnamed local official reported the strike, claiming, according to local residents, “Militants are clearing the rubble and pulling out the bodies. These are preliminary reports. We do not know the identity of those killed as yet.”
London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism notes that Saturday’s drone strike in Pakistan was the 18th American UAV strike in the tribal belt so far this year.
The strikes have caused tensions between the United States and Pakistan and also have drawn criticism from Pakistani officials. The country’s new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has demanded that the US end attacks like the one that reportedly happened on Saturday.
Before this weekend, the last strike happened on July 28 when a missile hit a group of militants near the Afghan border. As is normal with reported US drone strikes, the country did not claim responsibility and details of the strike were not clear. Reports suggested between five and eight people were killed.
Since the covert, CIA-led operation began in 2004, there have been more than 370 drone strikes in Pakistan.
[Image by United States Air Force via Wikimedia Commons ]
