MIRANSHAH: A large number of tribesmen Sunday marched in a main city in North Waziristan tribal region, demanding halt to US drone strikes in the area.
The demonstration in the town of Mir Ali was the second in the region in three days after over 2,000 demonstrated in Miranshah, the agency’s headquarters, on Friday.
The Sunday’s rally coincided with two strikes by the US drone aircraft in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, which killed seven people.
Two missiles were fired on a vehicle, carrying suspected militants, as they arrived at a house at Doga Madakhel village, said official in the region. The house and vehicle were destroyed, tribesmen said.
Three persons were killed in the second strike in the area when the missiles hit a motorcycle, witnesses said.
There was no report about the identity of those killed. A tribesman in Miranshah said over phone that he had seen six pilotless drones before and after the strikes.
Tribesmen in Mir Ali closed all markets and transports were off the road as a protest against the strikes.
They marched for a kilometer in the town and chanted anti-U.S. slogans and were demanding an immediate halt to the drone strikes.
Speakers including religious clerics, tribal elders, traders and student leaders condemned the drone strikes and said that innocent people are targeted in the attacks.
President of the Traders Action Committee of Mir Ali Bazar, Abdul Hakim, told the rally that the U.S. drone strikes have made the people physiologically sick as everyone is in a state of fear when the drones started flying over the area.
American pilotless aircraft regularly fire rockets in Waziristan as the U.S. officials say the area is the launching pad for cross-border attacks into Afghanistan. Tribesmen say that innocent people are targeted by the U.S. aircraft.
Chief of the Students Council Abul Rauf said that the people could go to mosques and funerals fearing strikes as “the Americans do not spare public places.”
The speakers also lashed out at the government for what they called its weaknesses to adopt a firm stand on the issue.
Missile attacks has killed over 670 people in 2010 compared with 45 strikes that killed 420 in 2009, according to a tally.
Pakistan government tacitly cooperates with the bombing campaign, which US officials claim has severely weakened Al-Qaeda’s leadership.
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