Pakistan sees fourth US drone strike in 24 hours, officials say

Sep 9, 2010, 8:55 GMT

Islamabad - An unmanned US aircraft on Thursday fired two missiles into a compound, killing six people and injuring three, in what was the fourth US drone strike in 24 hours in Pakistan's tribal region, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack took place in the Machis Factory area in Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district, located near the Afghan border.

An intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the missiles destroyed a compound owned by a follower of Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

Bahadur has signed a peace deal with the Pakistani government, and unlike other Taliban groups, his men do not target government officials or civilians. They mainly focus on cross-border raids on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.

US drones carried out three missile strikes Wednesday, targeting houses and vehicles in North Waziristan and killing 18 people, most of them militants from the Haqqani network.

The network is led by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani. Their group is believed to be behind dozens of deadly attacks on Western forces in eastern Afghanistan.

US authorities do not acknowledge the drone strikes, but unofficially, they said the strikes have killed dozens of al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban fighters.

Pakistan has officially criticized the drone attacks, saying they fuel public anger because of the civilian deaths caused by them. Secretly, however, Pakistani intelligence agents assist their US counterparts in identifying the targets.