At least eight people have been killed in a US drone strike targeting suspected Islamic militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal area of North Waziristan, media reports said Thursday citing local officials.
Unnamed local officials were quoted saying the drone strike targeted a compound located in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, a volatile tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The compound was reportedly hit by two missiles fired from the drone.
A similar drone strike had killed at least four suspected militants late Wednesday in the same region, which the US says is being used as a base by Islamist militants who launch attacks on a coalition of western troops deployed in neighboring Afghanistan.
US drone strikes inside Pakistan remains a very sensitive issue in the South Asian country. The Pakistan government has often protested strongly against such cross-border missile attacks in the past, stressing that such strikes violate its sovereignty.
Although the U.S. military does not confirm or deny drone attacks inside Pakistan, the American armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are believed to be the only entities capable of deploying such robot planes in the region.
Nevertheless, US President Barack Obama recently admitted that the United States carries out regular drone strikes on militant targets in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, stressing that such strikes allowed the US military to hit militant targets inside Pakistan without engaging in more "intrusive military action."
After Obama assumed office in January 2009, there was a spurt in the number of attacks by suspected U.S. drones. Pakistani officials claim that at least 200 people, including civilians, were killed in some 100 such drone strikes in 2010.
The number of such attacks using unmanned aircraft dropped to about 64 in 2011following their suspension for a few weeks after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a NATO air strike near the Afghan border in November. However, the drone strikes have since resumed despite strong objections from Islamabad.
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