Missile Strike Kills Wanted Militants

[unhappycamper]

Missile Strike Kills Wanted Militants
November 22, 2008
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suspected U.S. missile strike killed five militants in a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said.

There were unconfirmed reports that the dead included Rashid Rauf, a British citizen linked to an alleged plot to down trans-Atlantic jetliners who escaped from Pakistani custody last year.

A burst of U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan has killed dozens of suspected militants since August but has drawn angry protests from Pakistan, an uneasy ally in Washington's war on terrorism facing a wave of destabilizing violence.

Saturday's strike occurred in the North Waziristan region, part of the tribal belt from where militants are supporting the growing insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan and a possible hiding place for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

A Taliban spokesman said all those killed in the pre-dawn attack in the village of Ali Khel were civilians.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/missile-strike-kills-wanted-militants.html