AP: A suspected U.S. missile strike by a drone aircraft flattened a militant hide-out in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 20 local and foreign insurgents, intelligence officials said. At least 15 more purported militants were wounded in the attack in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border where al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding. The new U.S. administration has brushed off Pakistani criticism that the missile strikes fuel religious extremism and boost anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed nation. Pilotless U.S. aircraft are believed to have launched more than 30 attacks since July, and American officials say al-Qaida's leadership has been significantly weakened. Pakistani officials say the vast majority of the dead are civilians.
Afghanistan has been heartened by recent strikes on extremist sanctuaries in the Pakistani tribal belt, which it says give vital support to the insurgency. A new suspected US missile attack on Saturday killed at least 20 militants in a Pakistani tribal district near the Afghan border, a senior security official told AFP. Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's regional troubleshooter, arrived in Afghanistan late Thursday from Pakistan where military commanders say they urgently need equipment to tackle the Taliban threat.
Obama could send more troops to Afghanistan soon:
Obama is expected to decide soon whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan with the US commander here, General David McKiernan, requesting up to 30,000 additional troops. If they are approved for deployment, it would nearly double the size of the US force, which currently numbers around 37,000.
