A suspected US drone aircraft fired two missiles into a house in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Thursday, killing four people, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.
It was the second strike in as many days. A missile believed to have been launched by a pilotless US drone killed at least seven militants, including foreigners, in South Waziristan on Wednesday, intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.
”We have information that four people were killed,” said one of the Pakistani officials, referring to the strike in the early hours of Thursday near the town of Mir Ali.
The United States, frustrated by an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan getting support from the Pakistani side of the border, last year began launching more missile strikes from unmanned drones operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.
US drones have carried out more than 30 strikes since early 2008, killing about 300 people, including several mid-level al-Qaeda members, according to a tally of reports from Pakistani officials, residents and militants.
Eliminating militant support from the lawless north-western Pakistani enclaves is seen as essential for winning the war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s civilian government, elected a year ago, and the army have complained that the US missile strikes are counterproductive and the civilian casualties they often inflict have fuelled support for the militants.
In Jandola, a town near South Waziristan, at least six people were killed and 25 injured in a suspected suicide attack at a restaurant, government and intelligence officials said.
”The attack appears to be the result of rivalry between two militant groups,” an intelligence official told Reuters by telephone from Jandola. – Reuters