Seven persons including two foreign militants were killed and same number of others injured in drone missile strikes by a CIA-operated US spy plane in Machikhel village in the Mirali subdivision of the restive North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Monday evening.Official and tribal sources told The News from Mirali by telephone that a car, which was entering an alleged compound of foreign fighters, was hit by the drone in Machikhel village. They said five people sitting in the car were killed on the spot. Subsequently, the sources said that seven persons were killed in the attack and same number of others injured. There were unconfirmed reports that the dead included a known Pakistani Jihadi commander Ilyas Kashmiri. Those believed to have been killed in the attack included two Arabs, three Punjabi militants and three locals.
A member of al-Qaeda named Mustafa Algaziri, a native of Algeria, was also found spotted at this place, but it was not known if he was there when the drone attack took place.The drone fired two missiles, which destroyed the car and caused partial damage to a room of the house. Seven other people sitting in the open for Iftar-dinner were injured in the missile attack.
Local villagers said two drones had been continuously flying over Mirali town since Monday morning. According to sources the car with tinted glasses was seen coming from Mirali Bazaar before it was hit by the drone.
Several armed militants reportedly appeared from their hideouts and cordoned off the house after the attack. As usual, the villagers were not allowed to visit the affected building and take part in rescue work.
Sources close to militants said bodies of the victims were badly mutilated in the missile strike. The injured were later shifted to a private health clinic in the village where two of them were stated to be in a serious condition.
"It seemed they were following the car and its occupants. Like other previous incidents, the car was struck before it could reach destination," said a security official based in Miramshah, the regional headquarters of the Taliban-controlled NWA. Pleading anonymity, he said, most of the foreign militants, including Arab and Uzbeks, had been hiding in Machikhel and its adjoining villages of Mirali.
He said after their eviction from Wana and Azam Warsak in South Waziristan by the government-backed Mulla Nazeer-led Taliban and Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen, the Uzbeks were sheltered by the militants in Mirali and parts of adjoining South Waziristan.
Government and security people in the tribal regions have never been able to come out of their heavily guarded buildings and inspect the damage by the drone attack. Tribal sources said the house, which was hit by the drone, was owned by a local tribesman, Shah Mahmud.