US drones have been successful against terrorist groups in Pakistan - but would be even more so if the duplicitous Pakistani government would get off the fence

Yet another success for the US unmanned aircraft campaign, with the bonus that no good guys get killed:

 U.S. drone aircraft on Tuesday fired more than a dozen missiles into Pakistan’s North Waziristan, a major al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary, killing at least 14 militants, Pakistani security officials said.

It was the third drone missile strike on militants in northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, since a failed bid to set off a car bomb in New York’s Times Square on May 1.

The United States is convinced that Pakistani Taliban militants allied with al Qaeda and operating out of northwestern border regions were behind the attempted bombing.

The drone attack was in Dattakhel village, about 30 km (20 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

“Three missiles hit a vehicle and three militants sitting in it were killed,” said an intelligence agency official in the region, who declined to be identified.

The drones then attacked a nearby militant compound, firing about 12 missiles into it.

“The militants have cordoned off the area so far they’ve retrieved 11 bodies from the debris,” said a second security official. “The death toll may rise because the militants are still searching for bodies.”

There was no word on the identity of any of the militants killed but the attack was in an area where members of an Afghan Taliban faction led by a commander known as Gul Bahadur operate. Foreign fighters linked to al Qaeda are known to be in the area.

Pakistani Taliban fighters fleeing an army offensive launched late last year on their South Waziristan bastion are also known to have taken refuge with their North Waziristan allies.

Pakistan publicly objects to attacks by CIA pilotless aircraft saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and fuel anti-U.S. feelings, which complicate Pakistan’s efforts against militancy.

Unofficially, however, analysts say Pakistan is cooperating with the United States in identifying at least some of the militant targets attacked by the drones.

On Sunday, at least six militants were killed in a similar strike in the same area.

Late last month, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was reported to have been killed in a drone strike in January, appeared in Internet videos threatening suicide strikes in the United States.

Last year, a drone killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was accused of assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

The use of drones by the US in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theatre is one of the unsung success stories in this war against the Taliban/al-Qaeda nexus. They would do even better however, if the traitorous Pakistani Intelligence service (ISI) were not protecting the terrorists; moving the leaders between population centres within Pakistan that the US can’t reach.

The Pakistani government, who enables this chicanery, are playing a double game with the West – yet we still keep plying them with billions in aid and support every year – which seems to vaporise goodness only knows where.

Why won’t Pakistan cooperate and allow the coalition more freedom to go after the terrorists in Waziristan – and places like the port city of Karachi, where senior leaders are known to be hiding out with impunity?

Where is the quid pro quo? Perhaps it’s time to turn off the money pump and take the gloves off.

[Source: Reuters]

Please consider supporting Un:dhimmi by making a small donation to the site, in order to show your support and help us with our work.

Get Your Copy of The Documentary the Iranian Régime Doesn’t Want You to See

One Response to “Pakistan: 14 Taliban Won’t be Down for Breakfast”