Comment

Comment by truth on January 23, 2009 at 3:55pm

President Obama 'orders Pakistan drone attacks'

(US Air Force/EPA)

A Predator drone

Tim Reid in Washington

Missiles fired from suspected US drones killed at least 15 people inside Pakistan today, the first such strikes since Barack Obama became president
and a clear sign that the controversial military policy begun by George W
Bush has not changed.

Security officials said the strikes, which saw up to five missiles slam into houses in separate villages, killed seven "foreigners" - a term that usually
means al-Qaeda - but locals also said that three children lost their lives.

Dozens of similar strikes since August on northwest Pakistan, a hotbed of Taleban and al-Qaeda militancy, have sparked angry government criticism of
the US, which is targeting the area with missiles launched from unmanned CIA
aircraft controlled from operation rooms inside the US.

The operations were stepped up last year after frustration inside the Bush administration over a perceived failure by Islamabad to stem the flow of
Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters from the tribal regions into Afghanistan. Mr
Obama has made Afghanistan his top foreign policy priority and said during
his presidential campaign that he would consider military action inside
Pakistan if the government there was unable or unwilling to take on the
militants.

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The strikes come just a day after Mr Obama appointed Richard Holbrooke, a former UN ambassador, as a special envoy for the region.

Eight people died when missiles hit a compound near Mir Ali, an al-Qaeda hub in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. Seven more died when hours later two
missiles hit a house in Wana, in South Waziristan. Local officials said the
target in Wana was a guest house owned by a pro-Taleban tribesman. One said
that as well as three children, the tribesman's relatives were killed in the
blast.

Pakistan has objected to such attacks, saying they are a violation of its territory that undermines its efforts to tackle militants. Since September,
the US is estimated to have carried out about 30 such attacks, killing more
than 220 people.