US drone kills Pakistani boy who had joined anti-US rally

Islamabad, Nov 2, IRNA – A Pakistani boy, who had recently joined an anti-US drone strikes demonstration in Islamabad, was killed in an overnight attack by American spy aircraft in North Waziristan tribal region, a campaigner against the U.S. drone strikes said on Tuesday. Tariq, 16, who belonged to North Waziristan, joined hundreds of tribesmen in a largely-attended rally in the Pakistani capital on Friday. The demonstrators had called for halt to the strikes, which they said kill civilians. Tariq was killed along with his cousin Waheed, 12, in the U.S. drone strike Monday night near Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan, Karim Khan, who is leading campaign against US drone strikes said. Khan, belongs to Mir Ali area, had also lost his son in the drone attack last year. He has also filed a case against the former CIA station chief and several top American officials in a police station in Islamabad for what he says murder of innocent tribesmen in drone strikes. At least four people were killed in the Monday night strikes on a house and a vehicle, according to correspondents in North Waziristan. It was the fourth strike in Waziristan tribal region in five days. On Sunday, a U.S. spy aircraft fired six missiles on a house in North Waziristan tribal area and killed at least 6 people. At least ten people, including two Taliban commanders, were killed in both strikes in South and North Waziristan on Thursday. The U.S. has stepped up drone strikes in recent days despite strong opposition by the Pakistani government Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that no permission had been granted to the United States to launch drone attacks on targets inside Pakistan. “Gilani, who was in Australia, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), told a group of Pakistani expatriates said that the drone attacks were counter-productive because they caused collateral damage and undermined the government’s efforts to garner support against extremists and terrorists. He said the drone attacks were one of the reasons why relations between Pakistan and the US had deteriorated in recent months. The U.S. spy aircraft routinely fire missiles in the Pakistani tribal regions, claiming that they target suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants./end