ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday maintained that the drone attack in KurramAgency targeted an Afghan refugee camp in tribal area after a US statementsaid that the drone strike hit militant hideout.
The drone strike, which took place well inside Pakistani territory onWednesday, killed two people .
US Embassy in a statement earlier today stated that Pakistan´s claim thatthe drone strike hit a refugee camp is “false”.
The Foreign Office spokesman condemned the “unilateral action” lateWednesday, saying it had targeted an Afghan refugee camp, but made nomention of casualties.
“The claim in (a foreign ministry) statement yesterday that US forcesstruck an Afghan refugee camp in Kurram Agency yesterday is false,” aspokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad said.
Local officials have told AFP that the pre-dawn strike took place more than50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Afghan border, in the village of Mamuzaiin Kurram district in Pakistan´s semi-autonomous tribal region.
The FO spokesman said there are two refugee camps in the area, and that thedrone hit one of them.
“Pakistan condemned the drone strike in Kurram Agency carried out by theResolute Support Mission (RSM) yesterday, which targeted an Afghan refugeecamp,” the spokesman said.
“Pakistan has also been stressing the need of early repatriation of Afghanrefugees, as their presence in Pakistan helps Afghan terrorists to melt andmorph among them.”
Nearly 1.4 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan, according to UNHCRfigures. Unofficial estimates suggest a further 700,000 undocumentedrefugees could be in the country.
After Washington froze aid to Pakistan worth almost $2 billion this month,Islamabad set a deadline of January 31 for all the refugees to return toAfghanistan. Such deadlines have been repeatedly extended in the past.
Following the freeze, the Pakistani military said US Central Command hadassured them Washington “is not contemplating any unilateral action” insidePakistan. – AFP
The freeze has cooled relations between the ostensible allies and promptedindignation in Pakistan, which says the US does not recognise the thousandsof lives it has lost and billions it has spent battling extremism.