PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The U.S. strike on a militant compound Sunday night killed 20 people, including two important local Taliban commanders known for their attacks against American soldiers in Afghanistan, a senior government official and a local resident said Monday.
One of the dead commanders, Eida Khan, was wanted by the Americans for his cross- border attacks from bases in Waziristan, the government official said. Another, Wahweed Ullah, worked with Arabs who were part of al-Qaeda, the local resident said.
Ullah, in his late 20s, was known as an ideologically committed fighter who specialized in attacks against U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the resident said.
The strike was part of an escalating campaign by the Bush administration to hit the Taliban and its al-Qaeda backers at their bases in the tribal belt.
While the drone attacks appear to be more acceptable to the Pakistani authorities than ground incursions, government officials have complained about the intensity of the strikes and the Americans’ choice of targets.
The Americans were concentrating on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces that attack U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan but were ignoring militants operating in Pakistan, a senior Pakistani official in the administration that oversees the tribal region said Monday.
“The Americans are not interested in our bad guys,” the official said.
The New York Times
