US drone attack 'kills Pakistan insurgents'
Missile strike on Taliban sanctuary in North Waziristan kills 14 alleged insurgents and is third since failed Times Square bomb
Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said relations with the US remained sound. Photograph: Anjum Naveed/AP
Up to 18 US missiles hit a Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan close to the Afghan border today, killing 14 alleged insurgents in the third such strike since a failed car bombing in New York drew fresh attention to the region, officials said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign minister said the nation's ties with the US have not suffered as a result of the bombing plot, which Washington has linked to militants with bases in the lawless border regions.
The number of missiles fired into North Waziristan was unusually high, reflecting multiple targets.
They struck cars, homes and tents across a wide area in the Doga area, where insurgents have hideouts and training facilities, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The identities of the people killed in the attack were not immediately known.
North Waziristan has been the target of nearly all of about 30 other American attacks this year. In recent months, it has become a new haven for militants who fled a Pakistani army offensive in their previous stronghold, neighbouring South Waziristan.
The strike today was the third since Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was arrested after allegedly abandoning a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square. He has reportedly told investigators that he received training in Waziristan and US officials have said evidence showed the Pakistani Taliban played a role in the plot.
Pakistan officially protests against the missile strikes on its territory as violations of its sovereignty, but it is believed to aid them. The US rarely discusses the unmanned drone-fired strikes, which are part of a covert CIA programme.
US claims that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the 1 May failed car bombing in Times Square add pressure on Pakistan's government to launch an army attack on the militant sanctuaries of North Waziristan, but few expect its stretched army to rush into any operation there.
New calls from Washington could backfire because they would create the impression the force was acting on the orders of America – a perception that would undercut the public support needed for such an operation to be successful.
Aside from US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's warning over the weekend of "severe consequences" if an attack on US soil is traced back to Pakistan, most US officials have been careful not to criticise Pakistan in their public comments since Shahzad was arrested.
Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said relations between the two countries remained sound.
"There's nothing to worry [about], our relationship is smooth and it is moving toward a partnership," he said.
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