[Peace-discuss] Bush-Obama terrorism in AfPak

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Missile strike reported in Pakistan

At least five people have been killed in a missile attack by suspected US drones 
in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, according to 
Pakistani intelligence sources.

The AFP news agency quoted Pakistani security officials as saying that the 
missiles hit a compound, belonging to a Taliban member, late on Saturday.

The US is suspected in at least 11 missile strikes on the Pakistan side of the 
Afghan border since mid-August, killing more than 100 people, most of them 
alleged fighters, according to an Associated Press (AP) count based on figures 
provided by Pakistan intelligence officials.

"Two missiles struck a compound just outside Miranshah," a security official 
told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The targeted compound was the residence of Taliban member Omar Daraz, the 
official said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from the Pakistani military or 
from US-led forces in Afghanistan.

A similar suspected US missile strike on a house in the same district on 
Thursday killed nine people including six Arab fighters, according to security 
officials.

Orakzai burials

Elsewhere in Pakistan, mourners on Saturday buried victims of a suicide bombing 
near the border that targeted anti-Taliban tribesmen moving to evict fighters 
from their region.

Asghar Khan, a government official, told AP that authorities had tallied at 
least 34 bodies, but that as many as 25 other bodies may have been taken away by 
relatives in Orakzai, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions.

Some media reports put the death tally from the Friday attack much higher.

One unconfirmed TV report late on Saturday said 113 people died in the bombing.

'Hideouts' destroyed

A security official said that Friday's attack occurred a day after tribesmen had 
targeted two hideouts belonging to pro-Taliban groups operating in the area.

It also came a day after four tribal elders in Bajaur, a tribal region north of 
Orakzai, were abducted and beheaded after attending another pro-government 
meeting, officials said.

"People will tell you that Pakistan is already in a state of war. Every day 
there are suicide bombings," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the North 
West Frontier province, said.

"The violence is escalating at a time that the national assembly is not able to 
come to grips with the situation."

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