Six killed, nine hurt as drone targets Taliban stronghold

Dera Ismail Khan: A suspected US drone attack Thursday killed at least six people and wounded another nine in northwestern South Waziristan tribal region, intelligence officials said.

Two missiles were fired at a suspected militant hide-out in the stronghold of top Taliban commander Waliur Rahman, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity.

They said their information showed that Taliban fighters were removing bodies from a destroyed compound. It was not clear whether the missile strike, in the Kani Guram area of South Waziristan, targeted any particular Taliban commander.

The same area was hit on August 11 in an attack that killed at least eight people, intelligence officials said at the time.

The missiles are fired from CIA-operated drones believed to be launched from Afghanistan or from secret bases inside Pakistan. They are reported to be piloted by operatives inside the United States.

The Pakistani government publicly protests the attacks, which are unpopular among Pakistanis, many of who see the United States and its allies as conducting an unjust war against fellow Muslims in Afghanistan.

Despite this, Islamabad is assumed to be cooperating with the strikes and providing intelligence for them.Pakistan's government has called on Washington to provide the technology so its military can carry out the drone attacks. It was impossible to independently verify yesterday's strike or death toll as the attack was in a remote area of the tribal region, which borders Afghanistan and is off-limits to journalists.

The United States is suspected of having launched more than 40 missile strikes from unmanned planes on Al Qaida and Taliban targets close to the Afghan border since last year, reportedly killing several top commanders as well as civilians. An August 5 drone attack killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Yesterday's missile strike came two days after Rahman and another top commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, acknowledged Baitullah Mehsud was dead.

For weeks the Taliban insisted their leader was alive, but the two said on Tuesday he died a few days earlier from wounds sustained after the drone attack. The two commanders said the Taliban appointed Hakimullah as the group's new leader, while Rahman was appointed Taliban leader.