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US drone strike kills ’German militants’ in Pakistan

05 October 2010 17:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A US drone strike has killed eight militants, including five Germans, in Pakistan’s anarchic tribal belt where Western intelligence has traced an alleged plot to attack high-profile targets in Europe, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.
The missile attack took place late Monday in Mir Ali Bazaar, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
North Waziristan is a reputed hideout for foreign and homegrown militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and is the operational epicentre of the latest plot reportedly uncovered by European and US intelligence agencies.
"Five German rebels of Turkish origin and three local militants were killed in the strike," a Pakistani security official said.
Two other security officials confirmed to AFP that five German nationals were killed, as US forces step up airborne attacks on militant hideouts while struggling to beat back the Taliban on the ground in Afghanistan.
One intelligence official at Miranshah said the house hit by US drone on Monday was owned by Sher Maula, a local tribesman who was arrested by Pakistani police with a German man wearing a burqa and carrying a pistol in Bannu town in June this year.
Bannu is located in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and shares its border with North Waziristan.
"Maula had rented out his house to these foreigners," the official said.
The burqa-clad German man was arrested on June 21 and was coming from Miranshah, police said.
Two tribesmen travelling with him in the vehicle were also detained, he said.
The attack came hours after Japan and Sweden joined Washington and London in issuing a warning of a "possible terrorist attack" by Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups against their citizens travelling in Europe.
US channel Fox News, citing unnamed intelligence officials, said militants had a list of targets in France and Germany, including Paris’s Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral, Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the city’s central railway station and the Alexanderplatz TV tower.
US and German media said the information about possible targets was provided by a German national interrogated at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
But German officials said Tuesday they had no information on the five German Islamists killed by the drone strike.
Pakistani authorities have reported 24 US drone strikes since September 3, that have killed more than 140 people.
Recent missile strikes have largely targeted militants linked with the Haqqani extremist network, which is based in North Waziristan.
Officials in Washington say in the past the strikes have killed a number of high-value targets including former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. However, the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country.
Militants fighting against over 150,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan are believed to be holed up in Pakistan’s tribal areas, as are operatives at war with Pakistani security forces.
Washington has branded the rugged tribal area, which lies outside Pakistani government control, a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.
The United States does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its military and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the pilotless aircraft in the region.
Under US pressure to crack down on Islamist havens along the Afghan border, Pakistan has in the past year stepped up military operations against militants in the area.
Pakistani commanders have not ruled out an offensive in North Waziristan, but argue that gains in South Waziristan and the northwestern district of Swat need to be consolidated first.
Pakistan has protested against the drone strikes but until last week had taken few steps to stop the US military carrying out such attacks.
On Thursday however Pakistan closed the main land route for NATO supplies to Afghanistan after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers.
The blockade entered its sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, officials said.
While the key route remains closed, NATO supply convoys have come under fierce attack in Pakistan with local Taliban militants claiming on Monday two raids in which nearly 60 trucks were torched.