 A missile strike destroyed an insurgent hideout in North Waziristan at a house once owned by the late military chief of the Taliban, killing nine people, witnesses and sources said. Residents and local sources said drones flew over the site in the village of Danday Darpakhel before two missiles hit the site, one of which exploded and destroyed the house formerly owned by Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, who was killed last May in southern Afghanistan.
US-led forces in Afghanistan usually operate drones. “There was a roar in the sky, we feared it was an air raid but we saw no jets. Then there was a huge blast,” said Noor Mohammad, a student at a madrassa in Miranshah. Local sources said at least 12 militants were also injured in the blast. Two foreign militants were among the dead, they said, quoting injured rebels.
They said the house was used as a training camp and explosives store by insurgents loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of local Taliban who have been blamed for a string of attacks in the country. “The blast was so big that pieces of flesh were stuck to the walls of surrounding houses,” said local resident Faqir Mohammad.
| The cockles of my heart are warm, by Gum! |
It was next to a defunct madrassa formerly run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban commander with a $5 million bounty on his head who is said to be close to Mullah Omar.
| He's also been reported dead from typhoid, if I recall. I notice the story's neither confirming nor denying that he's still breathing in an out. |
US denies involvement: Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said his forces were not involved but added that local officials were checking the cause of the blast. “(The) army has not fired any weapon in the area,” he told AFP. Sergeant 1st Class Dean Welch, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, told AP that no strikes near or across the border had been reported on Friday.
He said the closest strike was about 16 kilometres inside the Afghan border. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman also denied that any US military asset had been involved in the attack, reported Reuters. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also said they had no information.
| In that case, "klaatu merada nikto!" |
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