PESHAWAR - A US drone strike killed at least six militants in North Waziristan Agency near the Afghan border on Saturday, Pakistani security officials said.
The strike took place in Warokey Mandi area of Shawal Valley of North Waziristan, where the military has since June been battling militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
“The US drone fired two missiles targeting a militant compound, killing the rebels,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said the identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known.
Another security official confirmed the strike.
According to a private TV channel, six suspected militants, including foreigners, were killed and two others were injured in the strike.
This is the first US drone attack in the current month.
According to another TV channel, the suspected militants killed in the US drone strike were Uzbek nationals.
On Friday, PAF air strikes killed 17 militants in Shawal Valley. These strikes came two days after the massacre of 45 Ismailis in Karachi claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) and the Taliban’s Jundullah faction which has previously reportedly allied itself to IS.
The jets targeted militants’ hideouts on the edge of the Afghan border in the mountainous forests in the Wareka Mandi area of Shawal Valley.
North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan. It has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.
The area is generally off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to independently verify the number and identity of the dead.
Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport sank faltering peace talks.
The army has intensified its offensive since the Taliban’s massacre of 153 people, 134 of them children, in a school in Peshawar in December.