Eight killed in US drone attack on seminary in Hangu
- November 22, 2013, 1:48 pm
- National News
- 103 Views
HANGU, Nov 21 (INP): At least eight persons were killed and several others injured in US drone attack on a seminary here on early Thursday morning.
According to District Police Office (DPO) Iftikhar Ahmed, an unmanned US drone fired three missiles on a seminary near Degree College in tehsil Tal of Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
As a result of attack the seminary was destroyed completely resulting in death of eight persons and leaving several others injured.
Those killed in the attack included three teachers and five pupils of the seminary. The teachers were identified as Abdul Rehman, Maulvi Ahmed Jan and Mufti Hamidullah Haqqani.
Local sources said that the drones continued to hover above the area after the incident which resulted delay in relief activities besides creating panic among the dwellers of the area.
Some sources claimed that the clerics of the seminary were believed to be affiliates of the Taliban's Haqqani Network.
It should be mentioned that the last drone strike in the country was carried out on November 01 which had killed the chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud, in North Waziristan tribal region.
This was the first attack by the US to take place inside the settled areas of Pakistan, after the anti-drone Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) came into power in the province and could increase tension between Islamabad and Washington.
The only other drone strike in the settled areas of the KP was carried out in Bannu district a few years ago.
The attack also comes a day after the Pakistani Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz while briefing the Senate Committee said that the United States had assured Pakistan of not conducting drone strike targeting the leaders of TTP if dialogue began between the two (Taliban and Pakistan government).
