[Peace-discuss] US attacks on Pakistan today

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Suppose there were equivalent attacks, originating in the Mideast, on the US 
today. The Obama administration would crow that its war was necessary...]

US Kills At Least 51 People In Pakistan
Over 50 killed in 3 drone strikes
By The Express Tribune News

December 17, 2010 "Express Tribune News" -- KHYBER: At least 51 people were 
killed in three drone strikes in the Khyber Agency on Friday.
According to Express 24/7 correspondent Iftikhar Firdous, the first strike 
targeted the headquarters of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam called ‘Khushal 
Markaz’ near the area of Speen Drang. Thirty two people were killed in the 
attack. Sources said that a wanted militant commander Marjan Alias Fauji was 
killed along with his companions.

In the second strike that took place in the Nahqi area of Sipah in Tirah valley, 
15 militants were killed when a drone fired missiles at a house. According to 
sources the killed militants belonged to Swat.

At least four more people were killed when a drone fired missiles on a building 
in the Sandana village.

US drone attacks in the tribal areas of the country have increased in the recent 
past. On Thursday, a US missile strike killed seven suspected militants in 
Khyber Agency. Local security officials said the attack was an apparent 
expansion of America’s drone campaign in the country.

Drone strikes kill 24 in Pakistan, fourth in two days
By Ibrahim Shinwari

(Reuters) - Three suspected U.S. drone missile strikes killed 24 militants on 
Friday in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border, 
intelligence officials said, the fourth attack in two days.

The United States has widened drone attacks in Pakistan this year, but almost 
all of them have been in the North Waziristan tribal region, a known sanctuary 
for al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Attacks in Khyber are not very frequent.

Khyber agency is home to Lashkar-e-Islami, a militant organization sometimes 
allied with the Pakistani Taliban, but which has often clashed with other groups.

The attacks on Friday in Tirah valley occurred within hours of each other. "We 
have initial reports of some 24 suspected militants killed in three attacks 
today," one intelligence official in the region said.

Another intelligence official confirmed the figure, saying four suspected 
militants were killed in the third attack.

It could not be immediately verified from independent sources if all the dead 
were militants, who often dismiss official death toll in such attacks.

A similar strike the day before killed seven suspected militants in the same region.

Pilotless U.S. drones have been attacking al Qaeda and Taliban militants for the 
past few years in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, but 
there have been a surge in these strikes this year.

Analysts expect the drone strikes to continue and even increase after the Obama 
administration on Thursday unveiled its year-old strategy in Afghanistan, where 
U.S.-led NATO troops are fighting a raging Taliban insurgency.

A five-page unclassified summary of the White House review noted substantial but 
"uneven" progress in its ties with Islamabad over the last year, emphasizing 
greater cooperation with Pakistan to eliminate safe havens in its border areas.

The United States says Pakistan must crack down harder on militants along the 
border who cross into Afghanistan and attack U.S.-led troops fighting the Taliban.

As it fights Islamist militants, Pakistan has also been bracing for sectarian 
violence during Moharram, the holiest month for Shi'ite Muslims, which is under way.

Government officials alleged that militants fired mortar shells and struck two 
houses in the northwestern town of Hangu, killing nine people, including two 
children and a woman. The region is often a site of sectarian strife. In another 
incident, police shot dead a suspected suicide bomber as he tried to enter a 
Shi'ite procession in Shikarpur town in the southern province of Sindh. Police 
said five people were wounded when the bomb he was carrying exploded after he 
was shot. Tens of thousands of paramilitary guards and police were deployed 
across the country on Friday to guard Shi'ite rallies on Ashura, the climax of 
Moharram and the biggest event in their calendar.

On Ashura, Shi'ite Muslims beat and cut themselves during processions to mark 
the anniversary of death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. 
Sunni militant groups have often attacked Shi'ite gatherings during this period.

(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud and Faisal Aziz; Writing by Augustine Anthony)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27091.htm