MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - A US drone strike late Tuesday killed at least
four militants in northwest Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the
border with Afghanistan, local security officials said.
The drone
fired two missiles at a guesthouse in Mir Ali, about 25 kilometres (16
miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal
district, the officials said.
"The guesthouse was completely
destroyed. At least four militants have been killed in this US drone
attack," said a security official in Mir Ali. "Five other militants
were injured."
The house was about 200 metres (yards) from the main bazaar in Mir Ali, he added.
Most drone strikes are against targets in rural areas, rather than in towns.
Another
security official in Miranshah confirmed the strike and put the death
toll at six. Both officials said they had reports that there were some
foreign militants among the dead.
Washington has called
Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwest tribal region the most dangerous
place on Earth and the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda, where Taliban
and other Al-Qaeda-linked networks have established bases.
A
total of 19 US drone strikes have now been reported in the tribal belt
since US commandos found and killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a
unilateral airborne raid in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad
on May 2.
The raid humiliated the Pakistani military and invited
allegations of incompetence and complicity, and relations between
Islamabad and Washington, wary at the best of times, have since
deteriorated sharply.
Pakistan is demanding an end to the drone
strikes, while the United States has increasingly demanded that
Islamabad take decisive action against terror networks.
The
United States does not officially confirm Predator drone attacks, but
its military and the CIA operating in Afghanistan are the only forces
that deploy the armed, unmanned aircraft in the region.
The
missile strikes are hugely unpopular among a Pakistani public deeply
opposed to the government's alliance with Washington and sensitive to
perceived violations of sovereignty. AFP
