US drone attack kills 18 in Pakistan

A senior military official told Anadolu Agency, on condition of anonymity, that the unmanned aircraft fired four missiles on a compound near the Afghanistan-bordering Dattakhel town. The identity of the deceased, as per usual practice, has not yet been ascertained.

This was the fourth drone attack in 2014 and the second in Dattakhel in the last week. Six suspected Taliban fighters were killed on July 10 after a drone fired two missiles on another compound in the area.

Since June 15, Pakistan's army has been carrying out a military operation, involving air strikes and a ground invasion, to eliminate Pakistani Taliban militants from North Waziristan.

The United States claims to cautiously use drone strikes, which it believes are the most precise and accurate weapon against militants in the northwestern Waziristan regions. Human Rights groups and think tanks, including the New American Foundation and Bureau of Investigative Journalism, believe many of those killed in past drone attacks have been civilians.

Independent media are barred from visiting North and South Waziristan, compelling the media to depend on government statements or local tribesmen for information about drone attacks.

The Washington-based New American Foundation estimates that only 116 militants were among the 3,330 people killed in 390 drone strikes since 2004.

Pakistan's government is popularly accused of giving tacit approval to the U.S. operations on its territory, though it raised the issue with the United Nations in 2013.