US spy aircraft kills 7 in Pakistan

US spy aircraft Thursday carried out two strikes in Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal region and killed seven people including a member of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, security sources said. A pilotless US aircraft fired two missiles on a vehicle in North Waziristan and killed four people at Dande Darpakhel, a border area along with Afghanistan in North Waziristan. Local media earlier reported that a house was hit by the American missiles. Residents said they had seen US unmanned aircraft flying before and even after the strike. Residents later arrived at the site and pulled the bodies out of the rubbles. The second strike occurred in South Waziristan tribal region just few hours after the first strike, killing at least three people. A vehicle came under attack at Bermal area of South Waziristan. A total of 12 people were injured in both strikes. Sources said that a member of the Haqqani network, Jamil Haqqani, was killed in the first strike. Jamil was in-charge of the logistic affairs of the Haqqani network but he was not member of the Haqqani family, security officials and local media reported. Local tribesmen said that members of the Haqqani network had been living in Dande Darpakhel area for years but all had left the region as the result of military operation in 2005. Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former Afghan Jehadi commander and father of Sirajuddin Haqqani, had established religious schools in the area during the 1979-89 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan is under US pressure to launch major operation against the Haqqani network, blamed for the last year two attacks on US embassy in Kabul and a truck bomb attack on an US military base in Maidan Wardak province. The fresh drone strike coincided with the visit to Islamabad of US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman who met President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. Sources say that Haqqani network was one of the key issues the two sides discussed. Allegations by top US officials that Pakistan supported the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in the last month attack on the American embassy in Kabul had caused rift in bilateral relationship. Pakistan had dismissed the charges of helping the Haqqani network in the Kabul attack as irresponsible. The US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta had threatened unilateral action against Haqqani network and other Pakistan-based extremist groups. Pakistan had rejected the threats as contrary to the spirit of cooperation in the war on terrorism.