Pakistani security officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has
killed at least five people in a tribal region near the Afghan border.
Pakistani
authorities say the strike hit Machi Khel village Monday in North
Waziristan. A security official told the French news agency that most
of the casualties were Taliban militants.
Local residents say they saw what appeared to be planes flying above the area before the missile strike.
The
United States has fired more than 40 missiles from unmanned aircraft, known as drones, to target al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds in
Pakistan's northwest.
U.S. officials rarely discuss the strikes,
which Pakistan has publicly criticized as counterproductive and a
violation of its sovereignty.
On Sunday, Pakistan's military said it killed 36 suspected militants in two separate operations in the country's northwest.
Government forces killed three militants and captured at least nine others during a gunbattle in Swat Valley.
And
Pakistan's paramilitary forces said troops killed 33 insurgents in
Khyber tribal region, as part of an operation targeting the
Taliban-affiliated group Lashkar-e-Islam.
The offensive was
launched last week after a suicide bombing at a border checkpoint
killed at least 21 people, most of them police.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
