Three US drone strikes kill 11

Drone strikes target alleged militants in Khaiso Khel, Payi Khel and Qutub Khel.

MIRANSHAH: At least 11 alleged militants were killed in three US drone missile strikes in the northwestern tribal belt on Wednesday, security officials said.

Three militants were killed when a US drone fired two missiles at a car in Khaiso Khel town 25 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region, late Wednesday, three local security officials said.

Almost simultaneously another drone strike killed four militants in nearby Payi Khel town, they said, hours after a similar attack killed four militants in a vehicle in the Qutub Khel suburb of Miranshah.

One security official said the vehicle hit in the earlier attack had been loaded with arms and ammunition.

'It detonated in the attack and the vehicle caught fire, nobody can go near the vehicle,' he said. A nearby house was damaged in the strike, officials said.

The region was also pounded by three missile strikes in a single day in early September, with 15 militants killed, according to local officials.

A covert US drone campaign in Pakistan has stepped up strikes in the tribal belt, as intelligence claims emerged last month of a Mumbai-style terror plot to launch commando attacks on European cities.

Around 200 people have been killed in nearly 40 strikes since September 3.