[Dawn] Missiles fired from a US drone aircraft slammed into a militant compound in the northwest tribal belt on Thursday, killing at least four militants, officials said.The attack was the fourth US bombing raid since Sunday in North Waziristan district, and hit a stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, known for staging attacks on US and Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan. "The US drone fired two missiles; one hit a compound and another, a vehicle. Four militants were killed in these attacks," a senior security official told AFP from the northwest city of Peshawar.
An intelligence official in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, confirmed that four militants were killed, adding: "Three of the militants were Afghan militants attached with the Haqqani network." The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area about five kilometres from Miranshah, which is close to the border with Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, a US missile strike killed four insurgents just a few kilometres from the border with the Afghan province of Khost.
UPDATE: They bagged some big game.
ISLAMABAD—A brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, a militant leader linked to both the Taliban and al Qaeda, was killed in the latest U.S. drone-launched missile strike in northwestern Pakistan, dealing another blow to insurgents fighting U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Mohammed Haqqani and three associates were killed when missiles fired from a pilotless aircraft Thursday evening struck a compound in Dande Darpa Khel village in the North Waziristan tribal region, a Pakistani security official said. The strike was apparently aimed at Sirajuddin who is the head of the Haqqani network, which has been responsible for some recent attacks in the Afghan capital of Kabul. He wasn't in the area at the time of the attack, security officials said.
The death of Mohammed Haqqani, who was also actively involved in the Afghan insurgency, comes as a blow to the insurgent group and reinforces the effectiveness of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.