US drone strike kills four militants

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone strike in the North Waziristan tribal region on Saturday killed four militants, destroying their compound and a vehicle, local security officials said.

Two missiles fired by a US drone hit Ahmad Khel village, some 25 kilometres west of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency, local security officials said.

“It was a US drone attack, one missile hit a house and another hit a vehicle.

“We have reports that four militants were killed,” an intelligence official in Miramshah said.

A second intelligence official in the town confirmed the attack and the death toll, while a security official in Peshawar said two drones fired four missiles, hitting a vehicle and killing three militants.

The area is considered a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters and has seen a dramatic rise in US drone strikes.

Officials in Miramshah and Peshawar said they are trying to ascertain the identities of those killed and if there was a ‘high-value’ target among the dead.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2010.