US mulling extending drone strikes to Balochistan: Report

Washington, Apr.8 (ANI): Notwithstanding the threat from Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud the United States is planning to extend Predator drone strikes to Balochistan, a reports has claimed.

According to The New York Times, the Obama Administration is planning to extend missile attacks to Balochistan also, unless Pakistan takes stern action against terror hideouts and training camps.

Sources said the visit of the US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen to Islamabad is mainly to highlight President Obama's primary aim to dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and also to root out all other terror groups associated with Al-Qaeda.

Democrat Senator from Michigan and head of the Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, had recently termed the drone strikes as an 'extremely effective tool' against the militants, however, Levin also admitted that these strikes sometimes kill civilians too.

While Pakistan has been continuously opposing the drone strikes terming it 'counterproductive' and an assault on its sovereignty, the United States says that the attack has been very successful as it has killed nine of the top 20 Al-Qaeda leaders. (ANI)