Thursday, November 21, 2013

Three women pass Marine ‘grunt’ test, but Corps holds off on letting them in infantry - 11/20/2013 | 'Drone Strike' In Pakistan Kill Militants



The strike, the first in Pakistan since a Taliban chief was killed this month, will likely stoke tensions between the two nations.

Drone strike
The site after the strike on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district
A suspected US drone strike on an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan has reportedly killed six people, including two Afghan militants.
Three rockets were fired on the Hangu district from an unmanned aircraft, according to local security officials.
The two militants killed in the attack were believed to be from the Haqqani group, an ally of the Taliban and one of the most feared militant networks battling US troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
There was no information on the other victims.
The attack could increase tension between Islamabad and Washington over the controversial drone strikes.
Pakistan publicly opposes US drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. However, the government is known to have privately supported at least some of the attacks in the past.
"Now no place is safe. The drones are now firing missiles outside the tribal areas," said Shaukat Yousufzai, health minister for the local government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"It is Hangu today. Tomorrow it can be Karachi, Lahore or any other place."
Drone strike
A protest against US drone strikes earlier this month
But the US  has shown no sign that it intends to stop using what it considers a vital tool to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Washington has long called on Islamabad to crack down on the Haqqani group, which it says has frequently launched attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region.
Islamabad has refused, saying its troops are already too stretched battling domestic militants.
It is the first drone strike in the nation since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1.
Pakistani officials were outraged at that attack because they said it came a day before they planned to invite the leader to hold peace talks.
Earlier this week, Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying that the US had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.









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