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14 die in U.S. drone attack

ISLAMABAD: At least 14 people were killed in a missile strike by U.S. drones on a North Waziristan madrasa run by Maulvi Jalauddin Haqqani, a Taliban commander linked by U.S. intelligence to the July 7 suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

Two or three drones fired several missiles at the seminary on Monday morning, said media reports quoting eyewitnesses. The madrasa is located in Dandadarpakheil village near Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

Women and children are said to have been killed in the strike, as well as militants. The Taliban reportedly cordoned off the area after the strike to recover the bodies.

Reuters quoted Badruddin, Haqqani’s son, as saying that his father and brother Sirajuddin were in Afghanistan at the time of the attack.

This is the fourth attack by the U.S. in Pakistani territory since September 3, when U.S.-led international troops carried out an operation in South Waziristan. There were two missile strikes in quick succession after that in North Waziristan, and in one of them, three children and two women were killed.

The attacks have raised anger in Pakistan against the U.S., which has been accused of disregarding Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Pakistan’s two Houses of Parliament, the National Assembly and Senate, adopted resolutions last week asking the government to use “full force” to thwart incursions into Pakistani territory.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the National Assembly that such attacks would “fuel hatred” among the tribesmen in the region, and would not help Pakistan’s efforts to tackle militancy as they would only add recruits to the cause of the Taliban militants.

On September 5, fuel supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan were briefly affected following the government’s decision to disallow fuel convoys to pass through the Torkham Highway, which connects Peshawar to Kabul. The supplies were resumed the following day.

Haqqani is an associate of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and is also close to the Al-Qaeda leadership. But he has not been seen since 2001, when the Taliban regime in Afghanistan fell.

The New York Times reported in July that American officials believe the Indian Embassy attack was probably carried out by members of a network led by Haqqani, and that the attack was masterminded by the ISI.

The attack came a day before Pakistan’s President-elect, Asif Ali Zardari, is to be sworn in to office. Afghanistan President Hamid Ali Karzai, who has openly accused Pakistan of helping the Taliban carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan, is scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Mr. Zardari is due to address a press conference, after the swearing in. The Pakistan People’s Party leader moved in to the palatial Aiwan-e-Sadr, the presidential residence in the capital, on Monday.

A Koran was held over his head as he walked in with his two daughters Bhaktawar and Asifa.

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