Pakistan used laser-guided precision missiles in Tuesday’s pre-dawn airstrike on three houses in which eight people were killed, as bereaved families rejected the government’s claim that the presence of foreign militants had led to the attack. The residents of Kot Kalay in northeast South Waziristan showed a group of journalists on Friday an unexploded 500-pound missile that had pierced through a rooftop and went four feet into the ground. The provenance of the missiles wasn’t clear.Military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan told Daily Times over the telephone from Islamabad that laser-guided precision missiles had been used in the attack. “We fired the missiles from fighter aircraft. This is not the first time we have used this weapon,” he said. However, it is the first time the military has acknowledged using laser-guided precision weapons against militants in Waziristan. Sultan said that three out of five missiles had failed to explode because of “possible technical malfunction”. He said the military would make efforts at some stage to recover the unexploded missiles.
Another case of Inshallah Maintenance™?
“Five missiles were fired from the north and then four helicopters appeared from the same direction and opened fire on the people,” Muhammad Sharif, a medical technician, told reporters. Sharif, who said he had witnessed the entire incident, said the helicopters kept firing on people who were running towards the forest for cover. The three houses – one completely destroyed and the other two partially damaged – are situated at a considerable distance from Kot Kalay, near the forest. Residents said that woodcutters used the houses. Pro-Taliban militants led by Baitullah Mehsud had organised the journalists’ visit to the area.