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 The missiles hit an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province's Hangu district that was known to be visited by senior
members of the Afghan Haqqani network, one of the most feared
militant groups battling U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan, the
officials said. One of the militants killed was a deputy of the
Haqqani network's leader.
It was only the second drone attack outside Pakistan's
semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border since the
strikes began in the country in 2004 and could increase tension
between Islamabad and Washington. There was a strike in Khyber
Pakhtunkwa's Bannu district in 2008. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is
considered a "settled area" of Pakistan, meaning it is generally
more populated and developed than the tribal region.
"Now no place is safe. The drones are now firing missiles outside
the tribal areas," said Shaukat Yousufzai, health minister for the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, which has spoken out
strongly against drone attacks.
"It is Hangu today. Tomorrow it can be Karachi, Lahore or any other
place," Yousufzai told Pakistan's Dunya TV.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry also protested the strike in a statement
sent to reporters, saying the attacks violate the country's
sovereignty.
Thursday's strike was the first since the U.S. killed former
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on Nov. 1 in a missile
attack in the North Waziristan tribal area. Pakistani officials were
outraged by the attack because they said it came a day before they
planned to invite Mehsud to hold peace talks.
The Islamic seminary that was hit was located in the Tall area of
Hangu, said local police officer Fareedullah, who goes by only one
name.
There were conflicting reports about the total number of people
killed. Several policemen and intelligence officials said five died,
others six. The bodies of those killed were badly burned,
Fareedullah said.
Pakistani intelligence officials provided the names of five people
killed in the strike. One, Ahmad Jan, was a deputy of the Haqqani
network's leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, they said. Two others were Gul
Sher, leader of the Afghan Taliban in Paktia province, and Maulvi
Hamidullah, leader of the Afghan Taliban in Khost province, they
said. It was unclear whether the other two were militants.
An Afghan intelligence official also confirmed Jan was killed in the
attack. A member of the Haqqani network, which is allied with
al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban, confirmed that Jan was one of
Sirajuddin Haqqani's deputies.
The Pakistani and Afghan officials spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.
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A local TV station showed video footage of the destroyed seminary,
which had walls made out of mud and straw. The walls of the room
that was targeted were caved in and pockmarked with shrapnel. The
ground outside was littered with shoes and pools of blood. One
person held up a piece of metal that appeared to be part of one of
the missiles.
Maulvi Noorullah, a teacher at the seminary, said there were nearly
100 students present when the attack occurred. Sixteen students were
in the room next to the one that was targeted, but they all
survived, he said.
The covert CIA drone program in Pakistan has been a constant source
of tension between Islamabad and Washington. Pakistani officials
regularly denounce the strikes in public as a violation of the
country's sovereignty. But the government is known to have supported
at least some of the attacks in the past. It is generally understood
that Pakistan's secret agreement with the U.S. on drone strikes in
the past was confined to the tribal region and did not include the
country's so-called "settled areas."
The Pakistani government has stepped up its opposition to drone
attacks since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office in June.
Sharif met with President Barack Obama in Washington in October and
pressed him to end the strikes. But the U.S. has shown no sign that
it intends to stop using what it considers a vital tool to fight
al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Imran Khan, the former cricket star who now leads the party that
runs the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, has called for Pakistan to
block trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan in
response to continued drone strikes. The federal government has
shown little interest in doing so, but Khan plans to hold a strike
on Nov. 23 and block the road through the province that some of the
trucks take.
Most drone strikes have occurred in North Waziristan, the
headquarters of the Haqqani network in Pakistan. The U.S. has
repeatedly urged Pakistan to conduct an operation in North
Waziristan, but the government has refused. Many analysts believe
Pakistan doesn't want to cross the Haqqani network, a group with
which it has historical ties and could be an ally in Afghanistan
after foreign forces withdraw.
[Associated
Press; HUSSAIN AFZAL and
RASOOL DAWAR]
Dawar reported from
Peshawar. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed
to this report.
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