A traffic warden guides ambulances carrying the bodies of foreign tourists allegedly killed by Taliban gunmen near the Nanga Parbat peak, after they are brought to a military base in Rawalpindi on June 23, 2013.
Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for a brazen attack in northern Pakistan that left nine foreign trekkers and a Pakistani guide dead, saying the assault was to avenge the death of their deputy commander in a recent US drone strike.
The Saturday night raid at the base camp of Nanga Parbat — the ninth highest mountain in the world — killed five Ukrainians, three Chinese, a Russian, and a Pakistani, local security official said on Sunday.
Later in the day, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the murder in an announcement made by TTP spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan.
Ahsan said the militants had shot dead the foreigners in retaliation for a US drone strike in May that killed TTP leader Wali-ur-Rehman, the second-in-command of the group.
“We wanted to seek revenge for the killing of our leader in the drone attack,” said Ahsan. “Our attacks on foreigners will continue to protest drone strikes.”
On May 29, a US assassination drone attack killed seven people in Miran Shah, the main town of Pakistanâ„¢s North Waziristan tribal area. According to US officials, Wali-ur-Rehman was among the dead.
On June 8, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that US drone strikes are unacceptable and asked Washington to end the attacks on Pakistanâ„¢s tribal areas.
US drone strikes are a violation of international law and infringe on Pakistanâ„¢s sovereignty, Sharif stated.
The United States says the CIA-run drone strikes primarily kill Taliban militants who threaten the US-led international forces in neighboring Afghanistan, although casualty figures show that Pakistani civilians are often the victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks.
The slaughter of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, in US drone strikes has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington, and Pakistani officials have complained to the US administration on numerous occasions.
In September 2012, a report by the Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law gave an alarming account of the effect that assassination drone strikes have on ordinary people in Pakistanâ„¢s tribal areas.
Å“The number of Ëœhigh-levelâ„¢ targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — estimated at just 2%,” the report noted.
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This article originally appeared on: Press TV