The Pakistan Government on Thursday expressed its anger after a US drone attack killed three suspected militants in the country’s north-western region.
A drone fired two missiles on a compound in Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, security officials said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, saying such strikes were “a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.” “There is an across-the-board consensus that drone attacks must end,” the Ministry said in a statement.
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The identity of those killed was not known.
The attack, the first in a month, came days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during a visit to Washington, asked US President Barack Obama to end drone operations.
The Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that 67 civilians were among more than 2,000 people who had died in drone strikes since 2008, a figure much lower than the estimates of rights groups.
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London-based Amnesty International described civilian deaths in drone attacks as “extra-judicial killings”, in a report this month.
Drone attacks are unpopular in Pakistan but Washington has backed their use in killing high-profile al-Qaeda targets.
Islamist militants in Pakistan said they would announce a ceasefire if the Government forced the US to end drone attacks.