Pakistan condemns drone strike in Kurram Agency

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday condemned drone strike in Kurram Agency carried out by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) this morning, which targeted an Afghan refugee camp.

“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,” the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

“Such unilateral actions, as that of today, are detrimental to the spirit of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism.”

It further says 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.

At least two people have been killed in a drone attack near Pak-Afghan border, according to reports on Wednesday.

Political Administration in tribal areas said a unmanned aircraft fired missile at a house in Spin Tal Dapa, a bordering area of Kurram and Orakzai Agencies, killing two people.

AFP reported that a mid-level Afghan commander of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network was killed in the drone strike.

The pre-dawn strike took place well inside Pakistan territory, more than 50 kilometres from the Afghan border in Mamuzai village of Kurram tribal district.

Pakistani government officials said it was carried out by a US drone. The US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment.

A senior government official in Kurram told AFP that the drone fired one missile at a two-room compound, killing the commander and destroying the building.

"Resultantly one individual, namely Nasir Mehmood alias Ihsanullah Khurya, s/o (son of) Aqeel Muhammad, was killed," the official said, describing him as an Afghan national and a "mid-level commander of the Haqqani Network".

Two suspected militants were killed on January 17 in drone attacks near Pak Afghan border.