US missile strike kills 15 militants, Pakistan says

16 İyul 2014 14:30 | 795

Pakistani security forces captured a key Taliban commander linked to a 2003 assassination attempt on former President Pervez Musharraf, officials said Wednesday as a U.S. drone strike killed 15 militants near the country's border with Afghanistan.

Adnan Rashid, a former air force officer-turned-militant, was arrested during a raid last Friday on a militant hideout in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal region, following a tip from local sources, two intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

The troops raided a home in the town of Shakai in the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Three associates of Rashid were also captured, and were being questioning at an undisclosed location, the officials said.

Rashid was hiding at the home after fleeing from North Waziristan, where the military in June launched a much-awaited operation against militants, the officials said.

The Pakistani army has not confirmed the arrest, which marks the first major capture in the operation.

In 2003, a suicide bomber tried to ram Musharraf's vehicle near Islamabad. Rashid was later convicted over the assassination attempt and imprisoned, but escaped during a jail break orchestrated by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012.

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