#2 Another version from The Nation:
US fires on Angoor Ada hills
WANA (Agencies) - Three persons were killed and eight missing, believed to be dead, when US gunship helicopters pounded a tribal district of South Waziristan on Monday where security forces have fought pitched battles with Al-Qaeda militants. A local private TV channel reported that American gunship helicopters violated Pakistani airspace and bombarded in the vicinity of dusty Angoora Ada leaving three labourers dead while eight others were missing, believed to be killed.
The victims were extracting chromite stones at Khawaja Khizer hill, near the town of Angoor Ada Monday afternoon. The dead have been identified as Khawaja Khan, Amir Khan and Ibrahim Khan.
Local notables had launched search for the eight missing tribesmen.
AFP quoted officials as saying that three labourers working on a hillside were injured when jets fired at them in tribal district of South Waziristan. “US-led military planes fired at people who were extracting chromite stones at Khawaja Khizer hill, near the town of Angoor Ada Monday afternoon,” a security official told AFP.
Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan denied reports that US choppers violated Pakistani airspace saying three persons were injured inside the Afghan territory. “There is no violation of Pakistani airpspace. Three wounded person crossed into Pakistan at 7:00 pm and are in custody of Pakistani forces and are being questioned,” DG ISPR Shaukat Sultan told a private TV channel late Monday when asked about reports that US gunship helicopters had pounded Angoor Ada in which three persons were killed and eight others were missing, believed to be dead.
He insisted that the operation was being carried out within AfghanistanÂ’s territory adding that he had no information about the nature of the operation as it was being conducted in Afghanistan. The injured had been given medical treatment, he added. |
US helicopter gunships wounded at least three Pakistani laborers in a missile strike against suspected Taleban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region yesterday, according to security officials. The three were brought to the Pakistani border town of Angoor Adda from a nearby mountain where they had been mining for minerals, but another eight men were unaccounted for, said the officials, who requested anonymity.