US drone kills 23 

as 

Taliban attack forces in Pakistan

• Source: Global Times
• [00:48 April 23 2011]

A US drone attack killed 23 militants in northwestern Pakistan Friday, officials said, while 16 security officials died in Taliban ambushes elsewhere in the frontier region.

The missile strike was the first to hit North Waziristan tribal district since a diplomatic furore erupted between Pakistan and the US over a drone attack on March 17 which killed 39 people including civilians.

"US drones fired five missiles on a compound in Spinwam, 40 kilometers northeast of Miranshah," said a local intelligence official. Miranshah is the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district.

"Several people were also wounded in the attack," he said, adding the incident took place before dawn.

A security official in Peshawar gave a death toll of at least 23. However, local security and administration officials in Miranshah gave a higher toll of 25 dead, including three women and four children.

In the far north of the troubled region bordering war-torn Afghanistan, 16 security officials were killed Thursday in Taliban attacks on a check-post being set up on the frontier, a military official said.

The violence comes as US and Pakistani officials wrangle over their counter-terrorism efforts on the border and the US missile campaign.

Most drone attacks have been in North Waziristan, the most notorious Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda bastion in Pakistan, where the US wants the Pakistan military to launch a ground offensive as soon as possible.

AFP   (source:global times)

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