US unammned aircraft kills 3 in Pakistan

A US pilotless aircraft on Saturday fired missiles into Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal region and killed at least three suspected militants, security sources in the region said. They said that five more militants were injured in the strike on a house at Bermal area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border. The aircraft fired four missiles on the house, believed to be a compound of the Taliban militants. Local TV channels reported that five suspected militants were killed in the strike. The compound was completely destroyed. It is the fourth strike by US spy aircraft in the insurgents-infested Waziristan tribal region in three days. On Thursday US spy planes carried out two strikes in North and South Waziristan and had reportedly killed 7 suspected militants including a commander of the Haqqani network. Pakistani and the US security officials have confirmed the death of Janbaz Zadran also known as Jamil. He was the lieutenant of Badruddin Haqqani, brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the group. Pakistani media reported that Jamil was in-charge of the logistic affairs of the Haqqani network but he was not member of the Haqqani family. 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 a US military base in Maidan Wardak province. The US has again stepped up drone strikes amid tension between the United States and Pakistan over Haqqani network. But some analysts believe that the sharp increase in the drone attacks show that the two countries have revived intelligence sharing. Top US military leaders insist that Pakistan has links with the Haqqani network and supported the group in their two attacks in Afghanistan on the US embassy and a military base last month. Pakistan dismissed the charges as irresponsible. The US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta had threatened unilateral action against Haqqani network and other Pakistan-based extremist groups after the Taliban attacked the US embassy in Kabul on September 13. Panetta had said that Pakistani intelligence had supported the militants in the embassy attack and also a truck bomb attack on the US military base at Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan on September 11. Pakistan had rejected the threats as contrary to the spirit of cooperation in the war on terrorism.