By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan has condemned a drone strike in its north-western Kurram Agency region, carried out by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) of NATO forces on Wednesday morning.
The attack targeted an Afghan refugee camp on Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing at least two persons who according to media reports, were suspected militants.
“Pakistan has continued to emphasize to the US the importance of sharing actionable intelligence so that appropriate action is taken against terrorists by our forces within our territory,” a foreign office spokesman said.
In a statement, the spokesman said that Pakistan has also been stressing the need of early repatriation of Afghan refugees as their presence in Pakistan helps Afghan terrorists to melt and morph among them.
Such unilateral actions, as that of today, are detrimental to the spirit of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism, he added.
According to media reports, two missiles were fired from a drone at a house in Speen Thall area – on the confluence of borders between Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Orakzai – as a result of which two suspected militants of the Haqqani network were killed.
In two separate drone strikes last week, two militants were killed while another was injured in two drone strikes near the Pak-Afghan border with Kurram Agency.
Pakistan has repeatedly said that drone strikes on its soil are a violation of its sovereignty.
The United States had conducted first drone attack on Pakistani territory on June 18, 2004 during the administration of President George W. Bush. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 423 to 965 were civilians among total death toll of 2,497 to 3,999 due to drone attacks over the last 13 years.
