Over 20 people including some terrorists are said to have been killed in drone strikes in the North Waziristan area and a dozen security personnel died in Lower Dir along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border by Afghan insurgents in two incidents over the past 48 hours. In both instances, there was no official confirmation from Pakistan's civil and military establishment till late in the evening.

Local media reporting from the border area of Lower Dir in Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa — formerly NWFP — said Afghan insurgents attacked a security outpost in the early hours of Thursday morning; killing at least a dozen security personnel though there was no clarity on whether these were men from the Frontier Corps or the Dir Levies personnel.

The insurgents were apparently pushed back after several hours of pitched fighting. Media reports also suggested that some security personnel had been kidnapped by the Afghan intruders when they were forced into retreat. Though this incursion is said to have taken place in the wee hours of Thursday, word got out only in Friday's newspapers.

As for the latest edition of drone attacks — the second this month — the unmanned aircraft dropped four missiles in Mir Ali; regarded as the hub of the Haqqani network. As was the case last week, Friday's drone strike came just after Pakistan once again spoke out against such attacks. On Wednesday, Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had told U. S. Joint Chiefs of Mission Mike Mullen that drone strikes not only undermine the national effort against terrorism but also turns public support against the government's efforts to fight terror.

Islamabad has increasingly been protesting against these strikes calling them counter-productive in view of the civilian casualties. Last week, the Foreign Office billed the drone attacks as the "core irritant in the counter-terror campaign'' while making out yet another case for transferring the drone technology to Pakistan. After years of negotiating, the U.S. has now reportedly agreed to give Pakistan 85 mini-drones (Raven aircraft) — a hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicle which can provide day and night aerial intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.