Suspected U.S. drones fired four missiles at two compounds in
northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing 16 alleged
militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday.
The
strikes occurred just before midnight Tuesday in Bobar village in the
South Waziristan tribal area, a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban,
said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to talk to the media.
The two compounds were hit
about 20 minutes apart, said the officials. It is unclear how many
suspected militants were killed in each compound.
The U.S. does
not acknowledge the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan publicly, but
officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior
al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.
The Obama administration has
ramped up the number of drone strikes in Pakistan's rugged tribal region
in the past few years. Most of the strikes have targeted al-Qaida
militants or Afghan Taliban insurgents battling U.S. forces in
Afghanistan.
But the attacks have also killed Pakistani Taliban
fighters, who are allied with Afghan militants but have focused their
attacks inside Pakistan. A U.S. drone strike killed Pakistani Taliban
leader Baitullah Mehsud in 2009.
Pakistani officials have
criticized the strikes as violations of the country's sovereignty, but
the government is widely believed to have supported the strikes in the
past and even let the drones take off from bases inside Pakistan.
Pakistani
criticism has been more muted when the attacks target members of the
Pakistani Taliban or al-Qaida, rather than Afghan militants with whom
the government has historical ties. Many analysts believe Pakistan sees
the Afghan Taliban and their allies as potential partners in Afghanistan
after foreign forces withdraw. AP
