And attackers target NATO vehicles in Pakistan
Hundreds of Pakistani tribesmen on Friday rallied to demand an end to U.S. drone attacks which they said were killing innocent people in the tribal areas, witnesses said.
More than 1,000 protesters staged the demonstration in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, shouting slogans against the United States and its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), responsible for the missile attacks.
"Killer, killer, CIA killer", "Stop drone attacks" and "America’s friends are traitors," shouted the crowd.
The United States does not confirm drone attacks, but its military and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the unmanned aircraft in the region.
In 2010 the campaign doubled missile attacks in the tribal area with around 100 drone strikes killing more than 650 people, according to an AFP tally.
Addressing Friday’s rally, a member of a local political committee, Sarfraz Khan, denounced the drone attacks for killing innocent people including women and children, and said that if it did not stop he would launch a long march to Islamabad in protest.
Washington says wiping out the militant threat in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt is crucial to winning the nine-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and defeating al-Qaeda.
Militant networks in North Waziristan are accused of escalating the nine-year war in Afghanistan and U.S. officials want Pakistan to launch a ground offensive in the district to limit the Islamist threat.
Pakistan tacitly co-operates with the bombing campaign, which U.S. officials believe has severely weakened al-Qaeda’s leadership, but has stalled on launching a ground offensive in North Waziristan, saying its troops are overstretched.
NATO targeted
Gunmen on Friday attacked vehicles carrying NATO supplies to Afghanistan, torching three of them and wounding two people in three incidents in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
The first attack took place in Qalat town, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of restive oil and gas rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.
"Three men riding a motorcycle intercepted the three tankers, threw petrol and set them on fire," local police official Lal Jan told AFP.
In the second incident, two men torched another NATO oil tanker in Mastung district, 40 kilometers south of Quetta, Jan added.
Senior provincial government official Saeed Umrani also confirmed the incident and said there was no loss of life in the two incidents.
Gunmen also attacked a vehicle loaded with NATO supplies in Wadh town, 370 kilometers south of Quetta and opened fire after the driver refused to stop, wounding him and his assistant, a local police official told AFP.
The latest incidents came days after gunmen set ablaze 16 NATO oil tankers in southwestern Dera Murad Jamali town.
NATO tankers are regularly targeted with arson attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt two key supply lines that cross Pakistan’s western border bound for foreign troops fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.
In October, gunmen torched 29 oil tankers also bound for Afghanistan in remote Mitri area, 180 kilometers southeast of Quetta.
Baluchistan is torn by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, and a separatist insurgency by rebels seeking political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.
Most supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.