DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US drone strike killed at least 15 Pakistani militants in Afghanistan’s Gomal district on Wednesday, intelligence officials said on Friday, part of an intensifying drone campaign against Pakistani militants in Afghanistan.

Three Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed Wednesday’s strike in an area bordering South Waziristan region.

“Fifteen bodies of killed militants will be shifted soon to their native areas in Dera Ismail Khan,” one intelligence official said.

The officials confirmed the 15 militants belonged to the Gandapur faction of the Pakistani Taliban led by Mullah Fazlullah, who claimed responsibility for the massacre of more than 130 pupils at an army-run school in Peshawar last December.

Tracking of drone strikes in Afghanistan is patchy --- many of them take place in remote regions and are not reported --- but Taliban commanders say that fighters there have been increasingly targeted since late last year.

The latest strike comes a week after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to end a blame game over a spate of militant attacks and work to restore trust.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made closer ties with Pakistan a priority when he took office last year. The relationship appeared to yield fruit in July with groundbreaking official peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

But after confirmation of the death of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the process was suspended and the Taliban launched a wave of attacks in Kabul, killing more than 50 people and souring relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2015

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