Foreigners among 5 killed in U.S. drone strike
ISLAMABAD. September 29. KAZINFORM Uzbek militants were among five people killed and six others were injured in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region Tuesday, witnesses and officials said, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The drone hit a house of a tribesman from the Pakistan Taliban movement in South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan at 1400 local time (0900GMT), they said.
The house of Irfan Shamankhel was hit by two missiles at the Sararogha area, killing five people at the scene, an official in Wana, the center of South Waziristan said. He said that Irfan was member of the Pakistani Taliban movement and close associate of its chief Hakimullah Mehsood.
According to the official, Pakistani Taliban and Uzbek militants were killed in the attack in the area controlled by fighters of the slain leader Baitullah Mehsood.
Officials say that majority population in Sararogha have shifted to other safe areas as the security forces are planning a major offensive against the Taliban.
The people and the militants rushed to the attack site and pulled the bodies and the injured out of the rubbles, witnesses said.
The U.S drones regularly hit hideouts of the militants in the Pakistani tribal region, which Washington considers as the center of Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.
A U.S. drone killed chief of Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsudin South Waziristan on Aug. 5. His wife was also killed in the attack, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.