MIRANSHAH: Two US drone strikes targeting a militant compound and a vehicle in Pakistan's lawless tribal district of North Waziristan killed at least nine people on Monday, officials said.
Both the attacks took place in Mir Ali town, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Miranshah, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants and the main town in North Waziristan tribal district along the Afghan border.
Two US drones fired two missiles into a militant compound, and minutes later another drone fired two missiles at a vehicle close to the compound, officials said.
It was not clear whether the drones were pursuing any "high-value target" but two intelligence officials in Miranshah said they had received reports from informers on the ground that those killed in the compound were all foreigners.
Monday's attacks were the fifth and sixth to be reported in Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghan border since US commandos killed Osama bin Laden in a secret raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2.
The new attacks coincided with a visit by US Senator John Kerry to Islamabad -- the first visit by a senior US figure since the raid -- in a bid to smooth relations severely strained by the commando operation.
The strikes inflame anti-American feeling in Pakistan, which worsened after since a CIA contractor shot dead two Pakistani men in a busy Lahore street in January, and again after the bin Laden raid.
US President Barack Obama has said that his country reserves the right to act again on Pakistani soil.
But on Monday, after Senator Kerry's visit, Pakistan said it would work with the United States on future operations targeting militant leaders in the country.
"It was ... agreed that the two countries will work together in any future actions against high-value targets in Pakistan," said Pakistan's foreign ministry.
Both the attacks took place in Mir Ali town, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Miranshah, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants and the main town in North Waziristan tribal district along the Afghan border.
Two US drones fired two missiles into a militant compound, and minutes later another drone fired two missiles at a vehicle close to the compound, officials said.
It was not clear whether the drones were pursuing any "high-value target" but two intelligence officials in Miranshah said they had received reports from informers on the ground that those killed in the compound were all foreigners.
Monday's attacks were the fifth and sixth to be reported in Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghan border since US commandos killed Osama bin Laden in a secret raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2.
The new attacks coincided with a visit by US Senator John Kerry to Islamabad -- the first visit by a senior US figure since the raid -- in a bid to smooth relations severely strained by the commando operation.
The strikes inflame anti-American feeling in Pakistan, which worsened after since a CIA contractor shot dead two Pakistani men in a busy Lahore street in January, and again after the bin Laden raid.
US President Barack Obama has said that his country reserves the right to act again on Pakistani soil.
But on Monday, after Senator Kerry's visit, Pakistan said it would work with the United States on future operations targeting militant leaders in the country.
"It was ... agreed that the two countries will work together in any future actions against high-value targets in Pakistan," said Pakistan's foreign ministry.
Source:TheNews
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