Drone attack kills 23 in Pakistan

At least 23 people, including women and children, were killed in a suspected American drone attack in North Waziristan of Pakistan on Friday.

The strike was targeted at the hide-out of a militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who was planning to cross over into Afghanistan to carry out attacks against NATO and American forces, reports said.

Five missiles were reportedly fired, of which one hit a nearby civilian area.

Among the dead are five children and four women.

Pakistan had objected to American drone attacks, though the foreign nation was determined to use its forces to keep militants who target its army men at bay.

Earlier on Thursday, 16 soldiers of the Pakistani Frontier Corps were killed when Taliban militants attacked a check-point near the Afghanistan border.

A bomb blast in Karachi on Thursday had also claimed 14 people and injured over 30.

The blast ripped through the a building in Karachi’s Lyari locality.