Sixteen people dead after missile strike on Pakistan border
Sunday, 16 Mar 2008 15:34
Ex-president Pervez Musharraf said last month he regards US missile strikes on the border as an invasion
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At least 16 people are dead after a missile strike near
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, according to reports.
The attack happened in the South Waziristan region, where tribal militants are based.
Pakistan state television claims several missiles destroyed the house of a suspected militant leader, with seven militants among the dead.
The US considers the tribal border region, the heartland of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to be vital in its war against extremism.
"Initial reports suggest militants were hiding there and seven of them were killed and several wounded," an unnamed military official told Reuters news agency.
A local tribesman said foreign militants were believed to be staying at the compound, in a village near Wana in South Waziristan.
"Militants have cordoned the blast site and are taking out bodies from the rubble," the tribesman told AFP news agency.
"The missile has left only part of a boundary wall intact and turned the compound into a pile of debris."
The missiles were fired from an unmanned drone aircraft, according reports.
US forces are believed to have been behind previous strikes in Pakistan's border region, but it is not clear who launched these missiles.
The Pakistani-Afghan border has been the scene of violence since US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, to oust the Taliban regime following the September 11 attacks.