– MISSILE STRIKE KILLED OVER 20 IN PAKISTAN

A suspected USA army UAV missile strike, on Sunday 10/26/2008 late night, has killed 20 people, including a top Taliban commander, Mohammad Omar known also as Haji Omar Khan, in North-West Pakistan’s FATA region, witnesses and officials say. Mohammad Omar fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The latest strike on Sunday night was launched at a compound owned by Mohammad Omar in Mandatta village in the troubled region of South Waziristan.

Mohammad Haji Omar was a close associate of the dead Taliban commander Nek Mohammed, 27, who was killed, on 06/17/2004, in a USA UAV missile attack. Nek Mohammed men were responsible for the death of over 120 Pakistani soldiers since spring 2003. Nek Mohammed was staying in the house of a local leader Shah Zaman Khan and two of his sons

Local officials confirmed that 20 bodies had been dug up from the debris of the compound. Two others are reported to have been injured in the attack, they said.

The attack comes three days after a missile attack in Dande Darpakhel area of North Waziristan area killed seven students of a religious school.

–

Over a month ago, US troops conducted a ground operation in the Musa Nikah area of South Waziristan area in which more than 15 people were killed.

Washington says the strikes are used against militant targets, but correspondents say that intelligence failures have sometimes led to civilian casualties.

Tensions between the USA and Pakistan have increased over the issue of cross-border incursions against militants by American forces based in Afghanistan.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said he will not tolerate violations of his country’s territory. The USA state department has affirmed “its support for Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity”.

 

 

***************************

Read more ;