US Missile kills 12 in North Waziristan, Pakistan

September 13, 2008

New US attack mocks talk of sovereignty: Missile kills 12 in North

Waziristan

By Our Correspondent

MIRAMSHAH, Sept 12: Twelve people were killed and 14 others injured

when a US drone hit the building of a non-functional school in

Toolkhel area of North Waziristan on Friday.

Sources said that the primary school was owned by local tribesman

Shah Adam who had rented out the premises to the Al-Bader militant

outfit.

A remnant of the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, the group had

occasionally fought in Kashmir and turned the building into their

liaison office.

This is the first time that the premises of a militant organisation

has been attacked in the area, some three kilometres west of

Miramshah.

Residents said the drone fired the missile at about 6:30am.

The building was completely destroyed and the militants took the

injured people to some unspecified place.

The sources said the dead and the injured people were outsiders and a

majority of them belonged to Punjab.

Like other tribal elders, the sources said, Shah Adam had provided

the land to the authorities for setting up a school.

Later, he took over the building and turned it into his Hujra

(guesthouse).

This was the fifth air attack by the US-led allied forces in North

Waziristan over the past 10 days.

The attack on the building was carried out amid reports emanating

from the US with threats given by top government and military

officials about extending the Afghan war into Pakistan's tribal areas

and an angry statement from Army Chief Gen Pervez Ashfaq Kayani that

no foreign country would be allowed to conduct operation inside the

Pakistani territory.

On Friday morning, a military truck hit a landmine on a road near the

Chashma Bridge, injuring two soldiers.

The truck was part of a convoy which was going from Miramshah to

Bannu. On Thursday night, militants fired five rockets on the main

fort of the Touchi Scouts in Miramshah.

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