The
Pakistani military said on Monday in Islamabad that a missile-firing
Pakistani drone has killed at least three suspected militants.
Military
Chief spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Asim Bajwa, said this was the first ever
reported use of the indigenously developed aircraft in combat.
He said
the “Burraq drone” attacked a suspected militant hideout in the Shawal
Valley, which had long been a militant stronghold on the border with
Afghanistan.
Bajwa said the drone that hit a terrorist compound in Shawal valley killed three high profile terrorists.
“Militants
in the area identified one of the three people killed in the Sunday
night strike as Nizam Wazir, a faction leader allied with the Pakistani
Taliban,” he said.
The militants said Wazir would be buried on Monday.
Government
forces launched an offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants, in
semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun regions along the Afghan border last
year.
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The
chief spokesman noted that the military expanded the offensive into the
Shawal Valley last month with the use of both ground troops and
aircraft.
The government had for years denounced US drone strikes in Pakistan as a violation of sovereignty.
The
independent London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which
monitors strikes, noted that US drones have killed more than 2,400
people in Pakistan since 2004.
Pakistan
first successfully tested the Burraq drone in March with the military
hailing it as “a force multiplier in the anti-terror campaign.”
The
military deployed two Pakistani-produced unarmed surveillance drones in
2013. Analysts say Pakistan’s drones look very much like drones from
Pakistan’s close ally, China.
Title : Pakistani first home-made drone kills three militants
Description : The Pakistani military said on Monday in Islamabad that a missile-firing Pakistani drone has killed at least three suspected militants. ...
