News / Afghanistan

Three killed in US assassination drone strike in eastern Afghanistan

Wednesday, 23 December 2015 5:21 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 23 December 2015 5:21 AM ]

This file photo shows a US MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle in flight. (Photo by Reuters)

Authorities in Afghanistan say at least three people have lost their lives in a US assassination drone strike in the Asian country’s troubled eastern province of Nangarhar.

Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, a spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial police department, said the drone attack took place in the Ghani Khel district of the province, which is located 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, at about 3 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) on Tuesday. He added that three members of a local militant group were killed in the assault.

On November 24, two people were killed when a US unmanned aerial vehicle pounded Momand Dara district of the same Afghan province. Three people were also killed on November 7 when a US drone struck Ghani Khel district in Nangarhar Province.

The CIA spy agency regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border. The US has also been conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.

The US says the airstrikes target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have in most cases been the victims of the attacks.

The United Nations (UN) says the US drone attacks are “targeted killings” that flout international law.

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