US drone attack kills 12 in Pak

ISLAMABAD: A fresh suspected US missile strike killed at least 12 people several of whom appeared to be foreign militants in Pakistan’s restive Waziristan tribal region in an overnight attack. Four missiles struck a house in the north Waziristan, a region said to be a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants who mount attacks on Afghanistan from the area.

Though there was no official word on the fresh attack but locals said that missiles hit house of a tribesman Ameer Gul at a village ‘Waladeen Budar’, located between North and South Waziristan, near the Afghan border. TV channels reported that at least four missiles were fired at a house late last night, killing at least 12 people.

Pakistani officials say that US has so far carried out 19 missile attacks in the tribal regions since August. They claim that mostly civilians are killed in such attacks.
Witnesses said that nine Arab militants were among those killed. Local authorities in North corroborated that five foreigners were among the dead.

The latest strike came a day after Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that such attacks violated international law.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had conveyed Islamabad’s protest over these missile strikes in the course of his meeting with the US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice in New York on Wednesday. The attacks were alienating the Pakistani people, he told Rice.