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US drone strike kills 7 in eastern Afghanistan

A file picture taken on June 13, 2010 shows a US Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile on the tarmac of Kandahar military airport in Afghanistan. (AFP Photo)

At least seven people have been killed in the latest US drone strike on Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, Press TV reports.

The identity of the victims of Saturday’s drone strike was not immediately reported by authorities.

Afghan sources in Nangarhar, however, said militants were killed int eh attack. Some of them are Pakistani nationals. 

On Friday, over a dozen people died in two similar airstrikes carried out in eastern Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, at least 15 civilians lost their lives in another US drone strike in the Alishir district of Khost Province near the border with Pakistan. Local residents said the victims were attending the funeral of a local tribesman

In October 2010, Philip Alston, then UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, said in a report that the US drone strikes were undermining the rules designed to protect the right of life. Alston voiced serious concern that the drone killings by the CIA could develop a “playstation” mentality.

Officials in Washington hardly ever comment on the issue of deadly drone strikes. The United States also conducts such airstrikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The target of the drone attacks is said to be militants, as Washington claims, but locals say in most cases civilians are the victims.

HDS/HSN/HMV


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