MIRAMSHAH, Nov 2: Five people were killed and six others wounded when a missile, allegedly fired from a US drone, hit a suspected militant compound near the Pak-Afghan border in the restive North Waziristan agency on Friday.
Residents said a pilotless US drone fired two missiles into the compound in Dandi Darpakhel in the outskirts of Miramshah at around 1.30 in the afternoon.
They said that one of the missiles did not explode while the other hit the target, razing the compound. “It looked as if nothing had stood there before,” a resident of the area said.
The identity of the people killed was not immediately available, but residents said that the compound was used by a militant commander. At least two of the wounded were said to be of Uzbek origin.
The wounded were given first aid and taken away by men associated with the militant commander from South Waziristan.
One of those wounded in the attack included the compound’s caretaker Noor Khan Mehsud. A vehicle and two motorcycles parked inside the compound were destroyed.
The compound is located near the madressah of Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Militants sealed off the entire area and did not allow anyone to get to the compound. Some residents put the death toll at 10 and the number of wounded at 12.
Reuters adds: The Pentagon said the US military did not carry out a missile strike on Friday in the Waziristan region.
“There was no indication that there was any US military asset,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman after speaking with US military officials in Afghanistan.
