Sunday, June 3, 2012

U.S. drone strike kills 10 in northwest Pakistan

21 May: Pakistan's six month blockade of NATO supplies bound for Afghanistan has contributed to rising tensions with the U.S. and cast a shadow over the Chicago Summit. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discusses.

By Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News in Pakistan, and msnbc.com news services

The second U.S. drone attack in as many days killed 10 people in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, intelligence officials said, an incident likely to raise tensions in the standoff between Washington and Islamabad over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The remotely-piloted aircraft fired four missiles at a suspected Islamist militant hideout in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghanistan border, officials said.


Tribal sources told NBC News that two senior Taliban commanders, named as Malang and Yarullah, were among those killed in the attack.

A drone strike in the same area killed two suspected militants, including one of Malang?s brothers, on Saturday.

The United States and Pakistan are locked in difficult negotiations to re-open overland supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan, with no signs of a breakthrough.

Islamabad blocked the routes last November to protest the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers by cross-border friendly fire from NATO aircraft. The supply lines through Pakistan are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.

The CIA drone campaign fuels anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan and is counterproductive because of collateral damage, Pakistani officials say. But U.S. officials say such strikes are highly effective against militants.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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