Taliban claims US drone crash

The CIA-operated drone crashed in Makeen area of South Waziristan tribal agency, where Pakistani Taliban militants are active.

Soon after the crash, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed militants had shot down the drone.

Technical problem

Security officials were quoted by Geo News channel as saying that the drone had crashed due to technical problems.

The authorities reaching the scene of incident have taken over whatever was left of the destroyed drone and are conducting further investigation, it quoted officials as saying.
US drones regularly fly over North and South Waziristan tribal regions, which have witnessed hundreds of missile strikes over the past four years.

Pakistan strongly protests the drone strikes which, it says, are counterproductive for the war on terrorism and alienate tribesmen.

Al-Qaeda’s number two Atiyah abdal-Rahman was killed last month in Pakistan amid stepped up US drone strikes after the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2.

The Pakistan army conducted a massive operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009 but parts of the region continue to be controlled by the militants.