MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - A US drone strike in Pakistan's northwestern
tribal belt on Friday killed at least three militants, security
officials said.
Two missiles fired by the unmanned aircraft hit a
house in the village of Khushali Turikhel, 40 kilometres (25 miles)
east of Miranshah, the main town in the lawless North Waziristan tribal
district, security officials told AFP.
"The US drone fired two
missiles which hit a house. At least three militants have been killed,"
a Pakistani security official said.
The identities of those
killed in the attack were not immediately clear but security officials
said they were all local Taliban militants.
A security official and a local intelligence official confirmed the attack and the number of casualties.
Another
intelligence official in Miranshah said there were reports that
foreigners were among the dead, adding that the death toll could rise.
Although
the United States does not publicly confirm drone attacks, its military
and the CIA in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the unmanned
Predator aircraft in the region.
North Waziristan is the headquarters of the Haqqani leadership and the main militant bastion in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
The
Haqqani network is considered the deadliest enemy of US troops in
eastern Afghanistan. It was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani and is run by
his son, Sirajuddin, both designated "global terrorists" by Washington.
The
group has been blamed for some of the worst anti-US attacks in
Afghanistan, including a suicide attack at a US base in the eastern
province of Khost in 2009 that killed seven CIA operatives.
Around
two dozen drone strikes have been reported in Pakistan since elite US
forces killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a suburban home near
Pakistan's main military academy in Abbottabad, close to the capital,
on May 2.
The raid humiliated Pakistan and prompted allegations of incompetence and complicity in sheltering bin Laden.
Pakistan
is seen as a key ally for the United States in its fight against
Islamist militancy, but relations soured after the bin Laden raid,
which both countries say was carried out without Islamabad being warned.
Drone
attacks are unpopular among many Pakistanis, who oppose the alliance
with Washington and who are sensitive to perceived violations of
sovereignty.
US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of
playing a double game with extremists, including the Afghan Taliban and
the Haqqani network, in order to exert influence in Afghanistan and
offset the might of arch-rival India.
Washington's pressure on
Islamabad to launch a decisive military campaign in North Waziristan,
as Pakistan has conducted elsewhere in the tribal belt, has so far
fallen on deaf ears. AFP
