Drone-fired U.S. missiles killed four people in a northwestern
Pakistani region controlled by the Haqqani militant network on Friday, a
day after a similar attack there killed a top commander of the group,
Pakistani officials said.
The identities of the dead in the North Waziristan region were not known, the officials said.
The
four were riding in a car close to Miran Shah town, the main base of
the Haqqani network, when two missiles struck, said the officials, who
did not give their names because they were not allowed to brief
reporters.
U.S. intelligence believes the Haqqanis are the top
threat to security in Afghanistan and that they enjoy the support of the
Pakistani army. It wants the army to sever its ties and attack the
group, something that Islamabad refuses to do.
The issue is a main cause of tensions between the two countries.
On
Thursday, a missile attack close to Miran Shah killed Janbaz Zadran,
who U.S. officials said was a top commander in the network who helped
orchestrate attacks in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan. They said he
was the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the
battlefield.
Earlier Friday, two militants killed alongside Zadran
were buried in the town of Lakki Marwat, which lies just outside the
tribal regions. About 2,000 supporters attended the funeral of one of
the men, Maulana Iftikhar. They included Arab militants and a lawmaker
from the country's largest opposition party.
The size of the
funeral indicated significant support in that region for fighters
battling the American presence just across the border in Afghanistan.
The Pashtun ethnic group that accounts for most of the resistance in
Afghanistan straddles the frontier.
Iftikhar was the head of an Islamic school in Miran Shah. He came from Lakki Marwat.
Locals said he was involved in "jihad" in Afghanistan.
"Maulana
Iftikhar is a martyr, and we warn America to immediately stop these
drone attacks," said Ahmed Jan Qureshi, a local leader of the Islamist
Jamiat Ulema Islam political party. "America should realize that these
attacks are causing hate against it, and see these thousands of people
who are here to attend funeral of a martyr."
Also present was
Munawar Khan, the town's local lawmaker and a member of the opposition
party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He declined to speak to The
Associated Press.
Since 2008, the United States has regularly
unleashed unmanned drone-fired missiles against militants in the border
region. Pakistani officials protest the strikes, which are unpopular
among many Pakistanis, but the country is believed to support them
privately and makes no diplomatic or military efforts to stop them. AP
