DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A suspected U.S. drone fired
missiles at a house in northwest Pakistan before dawn Tuesday, killing
four militants in the country's main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida
fighters near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The
house was located in the bazaar in Miran Shah, the main town in the
North Waziristan tribal area, said the officials, speaking on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Initial
reports indicate two foreigners were among the dead, but their precise
nationalities were not known, said the officials. The attack also
injured two suspected militants, they said.
The U.S. has
repeatedly demanded that Pakistan launch an offensive in North
Waziristan since militants use the area to stage cross-border attacks
against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has refused,
saying its troops are stretched too thin by operations in other parts
of the semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border. But
analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target Afghan Taliban
militants with whom it has historical ties and could be useful allies
in Afghanistan after foreign troops withdraw.
As a result, the
Obama administration has dramatically increased the number of drone
attacks in the tribal region, especially in North Waziristan. The U.S.
refuses to speak publicly about the drone program in Pakistan, but
officials have said privately that the strikes have killed senior
Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.
Pakistani officials regularly
condemn the strikes as violations of the country's sovereignty, but the
government is widely believed to have supported the attacks in the
past, and even let drones take off from bases in Pakistan.
That
support has come under strain as relations between Pakistan and the
U.S. have deteriorated, especially in the wake of the covert U.S. raid
that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani army town on
May 2. AP
