Alleged US Missiles Kill 12 in Pakistan

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Alleged US Missiles Kill 12 in Pakistan
August 15, 2010
Associated Press

Pakistan -- Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people in a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamist insurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboring Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Elsewhere in the country, gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis traveling on a bus and painting a house in two attacks in southwestern Baluchistan province Saturday, killing 16 people and wounding eight.

The airstrike late Saturday in Issori village of North Waziristan was the first such attack since intense floods hit Pakistan in late July. The U.S. has tried to improve its public image in Pakistan by sending flood aid, but the missile strike showed Washington was not willing to stop using a tactic that has fed its unpopularity here.

The two intelligence officials who confirmed the strike spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. They said at least two of those killed in the house hit by missiles were suspected militants, but they did not know the identities of the others.

Raza Ullah, a resident of the village, transported two men wounded in the attack to a nearby hospital on his motorbike. In a brief, rushed encounter with an Associated Press reporter, Ullah said two or three U.S. drones were seen hovering above the targeted house before the missiles rained down.