U.S. drone hits religious school in Pakistan, kills 8

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An American spy aircraft Thursday fired missiles on a religious school in northwest Pakistan and killed at least five people, sources in the area said.

The U.S. unmanned drone fired three missiles on ‘Maktaba Dar-ul-Uloom’ in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Those killed include students and teachers of the school at Tull area, local security sources said.

They said eight people were killed in the early morning strike, the first U.S. drone attack in the area.

U.S. aircraft routinely carry out attacks in Wazristan tribal region.

Residents joined students of the religious school in rescue operation and pulled the bodies and injured out of the rubbles.

The injured were shifted to a local hospital.

The U.S. carried out the strike a day after Pakistan’s national security adviser, Sartaj Aziz, told a Senate committee that Washington has promised not to launch attacks during Pakistani government talks with the Taliban.

Aziz told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday the U.S. drone strike which killed the Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, this month, has harmed the government peace talks with the militants.

Mehsud was killed when American spy aircraft rained missiles into North Waziristan tribal region on November 1st just a day before a team of top Islamic scholars were to meet him to discuss about the agenda and venue for the negotiations.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP refused to talk to the government after the killing of their chief and also announced revenge attacks.

The U.S. November 1st strike was widely condemned in Pakistan as the government had accused Washington of sabotaging peace process.

Ruling coalition in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has announced to block supply route for NATO forces from November 23rd as a protest against the drone strikes.

The issue of drone strikes is a source of tension between Pakistan and the U.S. as Washington is in no mood to change its covert operation despite Islamabad’s public condemnation.

The U.S. insists Pakistan has failed to act against the al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban militants in Waziristan tribal region who are accused of cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.     

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