{"id":171856,"date":"2011-03-19T13:34:13","date_gmt":"2011-03-19T13:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.moldova.org\/2011\/03\/19\/pakistan-calls-for-revenge-after-us-drones-kill-40-218371-eng\/"},"modified":"2011-03-19T13:34:13","modified_gmt":"2011-03-19T13:34:13","slug":"pakistan-calls-for-revenge-after-us-drones-kill-40-218371-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/pakistan-calls-for-revenge-after-us-drones-kill-40-218371-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan: Calls for revenge after US drones kill 40"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\nTribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border.<\/p>\n

"We are a people who wait 100 years to exact revenge. We never forgive our enemy," the elders said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s attack has caused fury – most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.<\/p>\n

Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani military has so far resisted US pressure for such an assault. It is already fighting militants in a number of other parts of the country’s north-west.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Thursday’s casualties will also add to pressure from Islamabad on the US to scale back drone strikes which regularly target Waziristan.<\/p>\n

The area is an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold and a launch pad for frequent attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

But the strikes are hugely unpopular in Pakistan. The latest one comes at a time of rising tension after the CIA contractor Raymond Davis was acquitted of murdering two men in Lahore.<\/p>\n

‘Just a jirga’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday’s drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.<\/p>\n

Officials say two drones were involved. One missile was fired at a car carrying suspected militants. Three more missiles were then fired at the moving vehicle, hitting it and the nearby tribal meeting, or jirga.<\/p>\n

At least four militants in the vehicles were killed, local officials said. Most of the rest who died were elders, local traders and members of the tribal police.<\/p>\n

"The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan’s regional capital, Miranshah.<\/p>\n

"It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute.<\/p>\n

"But the Americans did not spare our elders even.<\/p>\n

One of the elders, Malik Faridullah Wazir Khan, said he reached the scene 30 minutes after the missiles hit – four of his relatives were killed.<\/p>\n

"The area was completely covered in blood," he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

"There were no bodies, only body parts – hands, legs and eyes scattered around. I could not recognise anyone. People carried away the body parts in shopping bags and clothing or with bits of wood, whatever they could find."<\/p>\n

He said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children – one as young as seven.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Pakistan’s army chief condemned the raid by US unmanned drones in unusually strong terms, calling it "intolerable… and in complete violation of human rights".<\/p>\n

The Pakistani military often makes statements regretting the loss of life in such incidents, but rarely criticises the attacks themselves.<\/p>\n

Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, however, said such "acts of violence" make it harder to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n

US missions closed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drone strikes have stoked anti-US feeling in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The US embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were all closed on Friday for security reasons following Thursday’s attack and the release of Mr Davis.<\/p>\n

The US does not routinely confirm that it has launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani authorities deny secretly supporting drone attacks. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has troops stationed in North Waziristan but has resisted US calls for a wider operation there. The region is a stronghold of militants fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Many analysts believe at some point Pakistan’s military will have to move in – if not for America’s sake, then for Pakistan’s. Militants attacking targets inside Pakistan also find sanctuary in North Waziristan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Thursdays attack has caused fury – most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":171855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\nTribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border.<\/p>\n

"We are a people who wait 100 years to exact revenge. We never forgive our enemy," the elders said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s attack has caused fury – most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.<\/p>\n

Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani military has so far resisted US pressure for such an assault. It is already fighting militants in a number of other parts of the country’s north-west.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Thursday’s casualties will also add to pressure from Islamabad on the US to scale back drone strikes which regularly target Waziristan.<\/p>\n

The area is an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold and a launch pad for frequent attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

But the strikes are hugely unpopular in Pakistan. The latest one comes at a time of rising tension after the CIA contractor Raymond Davis was acquitted of murdering two men in Lahore.<\/p>\n

‘Just a jirga’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday’s drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.<\/p>\n

Officials say two drones were involved. One missile was fired at a car carrying suspected militants. Three more missiles were then fired at the moving vehicle, hitting it and the nearby tribal meeting, or jirga.<\/p>\n

At least four militants in the vehicles were killed, local officials said. Most of the rest who died were elders, local traders and members of the tribal police.<\/p>\n

"The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan’s regional capital, Miranshah.<\/p>\n

"It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute.<\/p>\n

"But the Americans did not spare our elders even.<\/p>\n

One of the elders, Malik Faridullah Wazir Khan, said he reached the scene 30 minutes after the missiles hit – four of his relatives were killed.<\/p>\n

"The area was completely covered in blood," he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

"There were no bodies, only body parts – hands, legs and eyes scattered around. I could not recognise anyone. People carried away the body parts in shopping bags and clothing or with bits of wood, whatever they could find."<\/p>\n

He said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children – one as young as seven.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Pakistan’s army chief condemned the raid by US unmanned drones in unusually strong terms, calling it "intolerable… and in complete violation of human rights".<\/p>\n

The Pakistani military often makes statements regretting the loss of life in such incidents, but rarely criticises the attacks themselves.<\/p>\n

Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, however, said such "acts of violence" make it harder to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n

US missions closed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drone strikes have stoked anti-US feeling in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The US embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were all closed on Friday for security reasons following Thursday’s attack and the release of Mr Davis.<\/p>\n

The US does not routinely confirm that it has launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani authorities deny secretly supporting drone attacks. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has troops stationed in North Waziristan but has resisted US calls for a wider operation there. The region is a stronghold of militants fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Many analysts believe at some point Pakistan’s military will have to move in – if not for America’s sake, then for Pakistan’s. Militants attacking targets inside Pakistan also find sanctuary in North Waziristan.<\/p>\n

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