At least two people were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of Orazkai Agency on Wednesday. According to official sources, two missiles hit a house in Spin Tal, a bordering area of North Waziristan and Orakzai Agencies.
There has been a slight uptick in U.S. drone strikes inside Pakistan in the mountainous border regions bordering Afghanistan since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, though they are a long way off their peak in 2010.
Earlier this month, one man was severely wounded in a suspected drone attack in FATA, while another person killed on Dec. 26 in a suspected U.S. drone strike inside Pakistan.
Trump has taken a hardline stance on Pakistan, which he says provides safe haven to high-level commanders from the Haqqani network, a group which often conducts deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
Relations between Washington and Islamabad have frayed over the past month in the wake of Trump’s angry tweet on Jan. 1. The United States this month also suspended military assistance worth about $2 billion.
Islamabad denies sheltering militants and accuses Washington of not respecting Pakistan’s vast sacrifices in the war on militancy.
Over the past decade, almost all U.S. drone strikes inside Pakistan have taken place within FATA, but some Pakistani officials fear the United States under Trump will begin carrying out strikes outside the tribal areas.
