The Press Association
Nov 7, 2008 - 10h30 UTC
A suspected US missile strike killed at least eight people in a Pakistani village close to the Afghan border on Friday, security officials said, the latest in a surge of attacks that a top American general said has eliminated three militant leaders.
The strikes are likely to trigger fresh anger from Pakistan's civil and military leaders, who say they undercut support for their anti-terror efforts, and from many of its 170 million people.
The suspected cross-border attack took place in Kam Sam village in the North Waziristan region, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants blamed for attacks on US troops in Afghanistan and rising violence within Pakistan.
Unmanned US aircraft are believed to have carried out at least 18 missile strikes in Pakistan's border area since August.
The attack was the first since the installation of General David Petraeus as head of the US Central Command , giving him overall command of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the first since Barack Obama won America's presidential election.
Petraeus told reporters in Afghanistan on Thursday that the strikes had killed three "extremist leaders" in recent months.
Pakistani leaders said they told Petraeus to stop the cross-border strikes when he visited their country earlier this week. He said he would "take on board" what they said, but gave no promise the attacks would stop.
The US rarely confirms or denies firing the missiles and the identities of those killed are not usually confirmed.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iC5Smnd7gok7Uz18rd4ge6_w1slw
Nov 7, 2008 - 10h30 UTC
A suspected US missile strike killed at least eight people in a Pakistani village close to the Afghan border on Friday, security officials said, the latest in a surge of attacks that a top American general said has eliminated three militant leaders.
The strikes are likely to trigger fresh anger from Pakistan's civil and military leaders, who say they undercut support for their anti-terror efforts, and from many of its 170 million people.
The suspected cross-border attack took place in Kam Sam village in the North Waziristan region, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants blamed for attacks on US troops in Afghanistan and rising violence within Pakistan.
Unmanned US aircraft are believed to have carried out at least 18 missile strikes in Pakistan's border area since August.
The attack was the first since the installation of General David Petraeus as head of the US Central Command , giving him overall command of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the first since Barack Obama won America's presidential election.
Petraeus told reporters in Afghanistan on Thursday that the strikes had killed three "extremist leaders" in recent months.
Pakistani leaders said they told Petraeus to stop the cross-border strikes when he visited their country earlier this week. He said he would "take on board" what they said, but gave no promise the attacks would stop.
The US rarely confirms or denies firing the missiles and the identities of those killed are not usually confirmed.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iC5Smnd7gok7Uz18rd4ge6_w1slw
