Suspected U.S. missile strike kills 5 in Pakistan

Seems like more than the talking tables its the US Drones that are having productive results. So millitant affected countries and regions can take a leaf out. But wht about Human rights? They are no human .. come on... Reuters

By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone fired missiles into a hideout of Taliban militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on Monday, killing five militants, intelligence officials and residents said.

The attack took place near Mir Ali town, a major sanctuary for militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal lands on the Afghan border.

"The militants have cordoned off the area and no one is allowed to go to the site of the attack," a resident, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters by telephone.

An intelligence official said a fortress-like house of a tribesman used by militants was targeted. "Five militants were killed and all of them are Uzbeks," he added.

Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a similar attack in the neighboring South Waziristan region last month.

Militant violence is steadily surging across the northwest since Talibanappointed Hakimullah Mehsud, a young commander and an aide to Mehsud, as their new leader last month.

Five Pakistani soldiers were killed in a land mine explosion in South Waziristan on Sunday.

Residents said an exchange of fire also took place between security forces and militants but there was no word on casualties.

AFGHANISTAN

Pakistani forces launched an operation against the militants in Khyber tribal region last week after a suicide bomber killed 22 border guards at the main border crossing with Afghanistan on August 27. The attack was the first major attack since Mehsud's death and Hakimullah's appointment as his successor.

The Khyber Pass is a main route for supplies being trucked from the Pakistani port of Karachi to Western forces battling al Qaeda and Talibanmilitants in Afghanistan and is also a stronghold of Hakimullah.

There are strong links between Taliban movements in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where violence is also increasing as militants battle the authorities and foreign troops supporting them.

The security forces killed 33 militants in the Khyber region on Sunday, taking the insurgents death toll to nearly 120 over the week, according to official statistics. Independent casualty figures are not available.

Aside from militant factions based in Khyber, other fighters fled there to escape an assault further east on the Taliban stronghold in the Swat valley, where the army went on the offensive in late April.

The show of force in Swat and elsewhere has helped allay fears among Western allies that the nuclear-armed Muslim nation was failing to confront spreading Islamist militancy.

(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see:here )

(Additional reporting by Hafiz Wazir, Alamgir Bitani and Ibr ahim Shinwari; Writing by Zeeshan Haider and Kamran Haider; editing by Ralph Boulton)