Drone strike near Pakistani-Afghan border kills 12 militants

ISLAMABAD - 20 October 2017: A drone strike near the Pakistani-Afghan border killed at least 12 suspected militants, Pakistan's Dawn paper reported Friday.

A suspected United States drone fired six missiles, killing 12 'militants' and wounding several others.

Earlier this week, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar chief Umar Khalid Khorasani was killed in a strike in Paktia along with nine of his associates.

The recent unprecedented increase drone strikes in the Pak-Afghan border region appears to be reflective of a change in policy in Washington, with at least 70 strikes ─ both drone and ground ─ conducted in Afghanistan in the past three weeks, and over 30 people killed in strikes near the border in the last few days.

The Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and ISPR, the army's media wing, had claimed that the strikes had been carried out in Afghan territory and Pakistan's airspace had not been violated, amid speculation that the strikes had targeted militants inside Pakistani territory.

The drone strikes near the Pak-Afghan border have increased after the Pakistan Army said that it had recovered "safe and sound" a family of foreign hostages from the custody of a terrorist outfit after it received and acted on intelligence shared by the United States.