[Arab News] US drone planes fired missiles at a compound in Pakistain's northwest region, killing a dozen snuffies on Wednesday, security officials said, the 12th such strike this month.The raid, the third in less than 24 hours, was carried out in North Wazoo, a major sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and Taleban on the Afghan border.
"At least eight missiles were fired and at least 12 faceless myrmidons were killed," a security official told Rooters on condition of anonymity.
Another security official said those killed were "Punjabi Taleban," a term used for faceless myrmidons from the central Pak province of Punjab, who were working closely with the Haqqani network, one of the brutal Afghan Islamic myrmidon factions fighting US-led foreign forces across the border.
Named after veteran mujahideen leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, the group is now led by his son Siraj and is closely linked to Al-Qaeda. North Wazoo is a major base for Haqqani.
The pre-dawn strike took place in Dargah Mandi, a village on the outskirts of North Wazoo's main town of Miranshah.
An intelligence official in North Wazoo said a cousin of Siraj was killed and several of his relatives maimed in a missile strike on Tuesday in the region.
Security analysts say the intensification in missile strikes, particularly in North Wazoo, could be linked to the delay by Pakistain in launching new anti-Taleban offensives as it struggles to cope with August's devastating floods.
The Pak army has diverted more than 60,000 of its men for flood rescue and relief operations though the army says it had not redeployed any of the 140,000 soldiers fighting faceless myrmidons in the volatile northwest near the Afghan border. Pakistain has an estimated force of about 550,000 soldiers.
"Americans know that the Pakistain army could not take any major action in tribal areas for a long time, therefore, they have no other viable alternative to this strategy (of missile attacks) right now," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on Taleban affairs.