Two US drone strikes struck militants in tribal badlands on Thursday, killing at least 13 fighters in North Waziristan near the Afghan border, officials said. The aircraft fired missiles hours apart on separate targets in what is considered the premier bastion of Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan as the government in Islamabad welcomed the Afghan and Iranian leaders for a summit.
Five militants were killed in the first attack that destroyed a compound in Spalga town near Miranshah and at least eight died in the second attack on a vehicle near the town of Mir Ali, about 25 kilometres (16 miles) to the east. "The death toll may rise," a security official warned AFP after the second strike targeted militants travelling in a double cabin pick-up.
"At least eight militant have been killed in the second strike," he said, describing them all as "foreigners". Another security official in Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan, put the death toll at 12, saying they were all Uzbek fighters. "The vehicle caught fire and the dead bodies are badly mutilated," he added. Those killed in the first attack were loyalists of Badar Mansoor and the Haqqani network, loyal to the Afghan Taliban whose leaders are understood to be based in North Waziristan, one of the officials said.
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