Two US missile attacks kill 13 in Pakistan

Nov 7, 2010, 18:49 GMT

Islamabad - Two US drone strikes on Sunday killed at least 13 suspected militants in Pakistan's troubled north-western tribal region near Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

The attacks, about an hour apart, took place in North Waziristan, a mountainous district known as a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants conducting cross-border raids on NATO-led international forces into Afghanistan.

An intelligence official said a suspected US unmanned drone fired two missiles into a house in the village of Ghulam Khan, killing nine people and wounding two.

Around an hour later, a similar attack destroyed a vehicle in the Datta Khel area. 'Four people died in this attack,' said a second intelligence official who, like the first one, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Both officials claimed all those killed were 'miscreants,' a term used officially to refer to Islamist insurgents. However, the claim could not be independently confirmed since the area remains almost inaccessible for reporters and aid workers.

Earlier on Sunday, residents of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, recovered the bodies of three suspected US spies dumped on the roadside.

All three had been shot and a letter attached to their bodies warned that 'everyone spying for the Americans will meet the same fate,' said a local official.

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