 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least three suspected Islamist militants were killed and two wounded by an explosion in a Pakistani tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, gave starkly differing accounts of what caused the blast in a house in Saidgai, a village 15 km (10 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A senior military official said the militants were killed while making bombs. | The old "Red Wire Syndrome" |
However, an intelligence official said the explosion was caused by a missile fired from a pilotless drone aircraft operated by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "The missile was probably fired by a U.S. drone," he told Reuters. The intelligence official said four people were killed, including two Afghans and two Pakistanis. | Good shooting, if it happened |
If it was a U.S. drone attack, it wouldn't be the first time Pakistani military officials have stuck by a version suggesting bomb materials in a house used by militants had exploded. Pakistan's public stance is that it will not allow its territorial sovereignty to be violated by foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The explosion happened in a house surrounded by a walled compound next to a religious school, or madrasa, run by a pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Noor Mohammad. The intelligence officer said Mohammad used it as a "guest house."
| So either a "work accident" or "Hellfire" is a real possibility |
In January last year, a helicopter gunship attack killed eight of the cleric's family, and two months later Pakistani helicopter gunships and ground forces launched an attack in Saidgai, that killed around 45 militants, mostly foreigners. | So it's likely the targeting data on his home is well known. 50/50 on either option |
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