September 13, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 12, 1429

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.