Targets survive US missile in N Waziristan

* Occupants quickly abandoned their car after drone missed its first shot

daily times.

Monday, November 29, 2010

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MIR ALI: The targets of a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s northwestern terrorist strongholds appeared to have survived on Sunday by quickly abandoning their vehicle after an unmanned aircraft missed its first shot, local officials said.

It was one of the few reports of anyone surviving one of the escalating barrages of missiles fired by remotely piloted aircrafts, which have become a key weapon in the wider US-led war against terrorists in Afghanistan.

A local news channel initially reported four people killed in the latest US attack in North Waziristan, where the Taliban and al Qaeda-allied fighters control safe havens outside the central government’s control.

However, two Pakistani intelligence officials who were investigating the incident told The Associated Press that no bodies were found and all their sources indicated the occupants of the car survived the attack near Hassan Khel village.

They said a US drone fired one of its missiles, but missed the speeding vehicle, and its occupants quickly bailed out before the second missile hit and destroyed it. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on record.

Sunday’s missile strike was the 13th this month. The US has sharply ramped up its unacknowledged search-and-destroy programme this year, launching more than 110 this year in hopes of killing terrorists’ leaders who run terrorist training camps and plot attacks on US and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan. ap 

(daily mail)

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