ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An early morning drone attack Friday on a village near the Afghan border in North Waziristan killed 12 people, Pakistani security officials said. The village, Dande Darpa Khel, is part of the stronghold of Jalaluddin Haqqani, an Afghan fighter and senior Taliban member.
The missiles hit a compound near an Islamic school that Mr. Haqqani had set up, and women and children were among the dead, according to Pakistani officials, who spoke in return anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
The strike followed a drone attack in nearby South Waziristan on Aug. 5 that, the United States and Pakistan believe, killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud. His aides have acknowledged only that he is ill.
Mr. Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin are seen as a key link between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban.
The News, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that militants carried out synchronized attacks on several military posts after the missile strike.
The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan have publicly criticized Washington for the drone attacks it has launched in the vast and lawless lands along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan because of complaints about civilian casualties. But the Pakistani government has quietly welcomed some of these attacks, which have helped eliminate influential insurgent figures. link...
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