US spy aircraft kills 6 in NW Pakistan

A US spy aircraft fired six missiles on a house in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on Sunday, killing at least 6 people, local media reported.The Express TV reported that the US pilotless aircraft struck a house and a vehicle at Datta Khel area, just few kilometers from Miranshah, the center of North Waziristan. It was not clear as to who were targeted in the strike, the third attack in Waziristan tribal region in four days. Residents in Miranshah said on phone that a US unmanned aircraft had been flying over the area since morning and launched the strike around 11: 45 a.m. The local tribesmen said they could not approach the strike site because of fear of another strike. They said that armed Taliban arrived at the scene and removed the bodies. It was the third US attack in Waziristan region in four days. At least ten people, including two Taliban commanders, were killed in both strikes in South and North Waziristan on Thursday. The US has stepped up drone strikes in recent days despite opposition by top Pakistani leaders. Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday in Australia that no permission had been granted to the United States to launch drone attacks on targets inside Pakistan. “There is no such permission,” Gilani, who is in Australia, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), told a group of Pakistani expatriates. Gilani said drone attacks were counter-productive because they caused collateral damage and undermined the government’s efforts to garner support against extremists and terrorists. He said the drone attacks were one of the reasons why relations between Pakistan and the US had deteriorated in recent months. Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who is also in Australia, termed the US drone attacks inside its territory as 'unjustified' saying these were counterproductive and decreased space for creating support against extremists. 'Our leadership has always condemned these in the strongest terms and unjustified,' Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told students at University of Western Australia. Hundreds of tribesmen staged a rally in Islamabad on Friday and called for immediate halt to the American drone strikes in the tribal regions. They said that innocent people are killed in the strikes. The US spy aircraft routinely fires missiles in the Pakistani tribal regions, claiming that they target suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.