Pakistan Summons U.S. Envoy to Protest over Mehsud Drone Strike
Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador on Saturday to protest over two recent drone attacks including the one that killed the leader of the Taliban, the foreign ministry said.
The government was determined to pursue talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose commander Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone on Friday, the statement said.
Mehsud, who was under a $5 million U.S. government bounty, was buried late Friday after being killed when a drone targeted his car in a compound in North Waziristan tribal district.
The killing of its young, energetic leader represents a major setback for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a coalition of factions behind some of the most high-profile attacks to hit Pakistan in recent years.
But it also threatens the government's efforts to begin talks to end the TTP's bloody six-year insurgency that has left thousands of soldiers, police and civilians dead.
Source: Agence France Presse
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