US Missile Attacks Rock NW Pakistan    09/08 12:42

   DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Three suspected U.S. missile strikes in 
less than 12 hours hit militant targets in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, 
officials said, an unusually intense barrage that follows four other such 
attacks in the last week. At least 14 suspected militants were killed.

   The strikes were in North Waziristan, a lawless region home to insurgents 
battling foreign troops just across the border in Afghanistan, al-Qaida leaders 
plotting attacks in the West and extremists behind bombings in Pakistan.

   The militants have stepped up their own attacks in Pakistan in recent days, 
just as the army focuses on helping millions of victims from the worst floods 
in the country's history. Four big bombs have killed at least 135 people in 
less than a week.

   The United States has fired hundreds of missiles into northwest Pakistan 
over the last 2 years. American officials do not publicly acknowledge such 
strikes, but have said privately that they have killed several senior Taliban 
and al-Qaida militants and scores of foot soldiers.

   Critics say innocents are also killed, fueling support for the insurgency.

   The first attack was on a house in the village of Dande Darpa Khel near 
Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, two Pakistani intelligence 
officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to 
talk to the media.

   The house was owned by Maulvi Azizullah, a member of the Haqqani network, a 
militant group based in North Waziristan that U.S. military officials have 
called the most dangerous threat to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Six militants 
were killed, they said.

   The second missile hit a car traveling a few miles (kilometers) from the 
border, killing four people associated with the Haqqani network, officials 
said. Zameedullah Wazir, a resident of Ambar Shaga, said he and others tried to 
get close to the vehicle, but were told to leave by Taliban fighters who 
arrived soon after in three vehicles.

   After nightfall, four other militants were killed, again in a 
Haqqani-dominated area close to Miran Shah, in an attack on a house, officials 
said.

   Pakistan's army has launched several offensives in the northwest over the 
last two years, but has resisted moving into North Waziristan despite U.S. 
pressure. The Haqqani network has refrained from launching attacks inside 
Pakistan, and analysts believe the army views them as an important tool to 
secure its interests in Afghanistan once foreign troops withdraw.

   Without a Pakistani military offensive, the U.S. has had to rely on drone 
strikes to battle the group.

   The Pakistani government has publicly criticized the missiles strikes as 
violations of its sovereignty, but is believed to help the CIA carry out the 
attacks, especially when they target militants at war with Pakistan.


(KA)