Predator strikes: Six killed in drone attack in North Waziristan

DATTA KHEL: A US drone strike killed six suspected militants in North Waziristan agency, security officials said on Friday, as al Qaeda said two members of the group had been killed in a previous strike.

Two missiles struck a house in Mada Khel village of North Waziristan agency near the Afghan border on Thursday night, said a security official based in the area.

Six people were killed and three wounded, he said, citing intercepts of Taliban conversations. Local and foreign militants were among the casualties, he added.

Another government official based in nearby Datta Khel town confirmed the death toll.

He said civilian residents of Mada Khel had fled their homes before an anti-Taliban military offensive began in North Waziristan on June 15. His information could not be immediately confirmed because there is no cell phone reception in the village.

The military says it has killed around 1,200 militants since beginning the operation in North Waziristan. Most of the civilian population - around a million people - were ordered to leave their homes before the offensive began.

Access to the area is tightly controlled.

Also on Thursday, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) spokesman Usama Mahmoud said two al Qaeda men were killed in a drone strike last week.

Thursday night's strike was the 21st drone strike so far this year, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which tracks the strikes using media reports.