PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suspected US drone attack in Pakistan’s volatile tribal area killed five people yesterday, as part of an unprecedented wave of strikes since a deadly attack against the CIA across the border in Afghanistan, said intelligence officials.
The two missiles slammed into a compound and a nearby vehicle in the Deegan area of North Waziristan, a zone dominated by the Haqqani network, an Al Qaeda-linked Afghan Taliban faction that many suspect helped orchestrate the Dec. 30 suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees at a remote base in Khost Province.
Yesterday’s strike was the 12th since the CIA attack, an average of one about every day and a half. The unmanned aircraft have also targeted the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, who appeared in a video alongside the Jordanian man who carried out the suicide bombing. But a series of strikes against his stronghold in South Waziristan apparently failed to take out the militant leader.
In yesterday’s strike, four people were killed in the compound and one in the vehicle, said the intelligence officials. The victims’ identities were unknown, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The area hit in the attack is 12 miles south of the Afghan border.
