Rare US Drone Strike Outside Pakistan's Tribal Region Kills 6 People
PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone carried out a rare missile strike in northwest Pakistan outside the country's remote tribal region Thursday, killing six people, including at least two Afghan militants, Pakistani police and security officials said.
The missiles hit an Islamic seminary in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that was known to be visited by senior members of the Afghan Haqqani network, an ally of the Taliban and one of the most feared militant groups battling U.S troops in neighboring Afghanistan, the officials said. The two Afghan militants killed in the strike were from the Haqqani network.
It was one of the first drone attacks to occur outside Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border since the strikes began in the country in 2004 and could increase tension between Islamabad and Washington. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is considered a "settled area" of Pakistan, meaning it is generally more populated and developed than the tribal region.
It was also the first drone attack since the U.S. killed former Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on Nov. 1 in a strike in the North Waziristan tribal area. Pakistani officials were outraged by the attack because they said it came a day before they planned to invite Mehsud to hold peace talks.
Police have arrived at the scene of the seminary which was struck by three missiles Thursday in the Tall area of Hangu, said local police officer Fareedullah, who goes by only one name. The six were badly burned, he said.
Another police officer, Zia Khan, said five Afghans were killed in the attack, including three students and two teachers.
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