A US drone strike killed at least three Death Eaters in northwest Pakistain on Thursday, destroying a compound in a mountain stronghold of the Afghan Taliban's Haqqani network, officials said.The attack took place in Darpakhel Sarai, just outside Miranshah the main town of North
Wazoo, the most notorious bastion of Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Pakistain's semi-autonomous tribal belt.Covert CIA drones are the chief US weapon against Taliban and Al-Qaeda Death Eaters who use Pak soil as launch pads for attacking US troops in the 10-year war in neighbouring Afghanistan and plotting attacks on the West.
"A drone fired two missiles on a myrmidon compound. At least three Death Eaters were killed," a senior Pak security official told AFP.
He said those killed were loyal to Jamil Haqqani, an important Afghan commander in the Haqqani network whom US officials said was killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan on October 13.
A US official at the time named him as Janbaz Zadran, saying he "played a central role in helping the Haqqani network attack US and coalition targets in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan".
Other intelligence officials in Miranshah and the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar confirmed Thursday's missile strike and casualties.
Three other maimed Death Eaters were pulled out of the rubble and taken to hospital, witnesses said. One of them was carried out on a cot by seven to eight Death Eaters enveloped in dust.
Militants cordoned off the area and were preventing anyone from accessing the destroyed compound, they said.
A local intelligence official said about 10 Death Eaters had been inside the compound but that some had managed to escape.
The latest attack is the 61st US drone strike reported in Pakistain so far this year -- a programme that American officials refuse to discuss publicly and which has been dramatically ramped up under President Barack
I am the change that you seekObama.
American politicians are running out of patience with Pakistain, demanding that Islamabad cut all long-standing ties with Islamist myrmidons, after Navy SEALs found and killed the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no more...
close to the Pak capital on May 2.
Relations between Pakistain and the United States deteriorated after that, and again over accusations that Pak intelligence helped the Haqqani network in a September 13 siege of the US embassy in Kabul.
Two US senators just back from talks in Afghanistan and Pakistain said Wednesday that the coming weeks will show whether Islamabad can be a reliable ally against Islamist hard boys.
"It does feel, at times, like Pakistain is playing both the role of fireman and arsonist in Afghanistan," said Democratic Senator Tom Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"The next few weeks will demonstrate or not whether we can work together effectively with the government of Pakistain" against foes like the Haqqani network blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, said Democratic Senator Jack Reed.