US Drones Kill Hundreds in Pakistan

Latest figures show that US military drone missile attacks in Pakistan have killed nearly four hundred people in 2010, Press TV has learned.

The figure shows an increase in the Pentagon’s attacks over the past few months. Overall, 36 strikes have been lunched since January this year, killing at least 390 people.

The latest drone strike, which claimed 15 lives on Saturday, targeted a house in a village near Mir Ali town in North Waziristan.

Washington claims its airstrikes target militant hideouts, but most of the attacks have killed civilians — since August 2008, such strikes have killed nearly a thousand people in rural areas.

The attacks were initiated under former US President George W. Bush and have escalated under President Barack Obama.

The issue of civilian casualties has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington with the Pakistani government objecting to the attacks.

A United Nations report says the US-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law.