A US drone strike leveled a home in the village of Nargasi, in South Waziristan Agency today, killing six people within, including one who officials identified as a Haqqani Network “leader.”
None of the other slain have been identified specifically, though Pakistani officials labeled the rest as “militants,” including four foreigners. Two were said to be from Saudi Arabia.
The attack is the 16th US drone strike against Pakistan’s tribal areas this year, and while Pakistani officials were previously mum on the latest increase in strikes, the Foreign Ministry today offered a criticism, pointing out that the Pakistani military is already taking action against the militants in those agencies.
Tasnim Aslam, the spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, said that the attacks were “unnecessary and need to be stopped,” which is still well short of the demands to end such attacks which Pakistani officials were making at the start of the year. Still, that comments are being made at all suggests they are once again aware of the risked unrest from allowing the US to continue the wildly unpopular drone campaign.