Drone strikes kills 9 in N Waziristan

A US missile strike kills six people in North Waziristan, hours after the Taliban blew up more NATO tankers.

MIRANSHAH: Two US missile strikes Wednesday killed at least nine people in North Waziristan, hours after the Taliban blew up more NATO tankers.

A security official said two missiles hit a militant compound in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan in the first attack.

Smoke could be seen rising half a kilometre from the struck building, which was cordoned off by militants, residents said.

"We have reports that four militants were killed," one security official told AFP.

Another security official confirmed the toll and said that two others were wounded.

The second attack today took place on a compound in Mir Ali, North Waziristan.

Earlier this week, militants attacked a depot housing 40 Nato oil tankers on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Quetta, killing a member of staff and destroying at least 18 vehicles, in the fourth such attack in a week.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack along with other raids in the past week in which nearly 60 trucks were torched and three people died.

They vowed more attacks to disrupt NATO's supply route through Pakistan and to avenge a new wave of US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants linked to the alleged terror plot against European cities.

"We claim responsibility for attacking and torching NATO tankers in Quetta today," Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP. "We will further intensify attacks with the intensification of US drone strikes on us."

Balochistan Police Chief Malik Mohammed Iqbal later said some suspects from the area were being questioned but gave no further details.

Authorities have reported 25 attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people in the region, a hub for homegrown and foreign militants fighting in Afghanistan.