Suspected US Missile Kills 4 in Northwest Pakistan

By VOA News
Pakistani officials say a suspected missile strike from a U.S. drone (unmanned aircraft) has killed at least four militants in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The officials say the missile was fired early Monday at a Taliban vehicle in a village near the region's main town of Miran Shah.

Pakistani officials say U.S. unmanned aircraft are believed to have fired more than 40 missiles at suspected al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds in northwest Pakistan in recent months.

American officials rarely discuss the missile strikes, which Pakistan has publicly criticized as counterproductive and a violation of its sovereignty.

On Sunday, a roadside bomb killed three soldiers in western Khyber region, where Pakistani forces launched an offensive against Taliban militants earlier this month.

Taliban militants frequently attack convoys that travel through the Khyber Pass to deliver supplies to U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan has faced strong U.S. pressure to crack down on the militants.

In other news, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik says Pakistani forces are closing in on the commander of the Taliban in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah.

Pakistani forces have retaken control of much of the Swat Valley from the Taliban since beginning an offensive there in April.

In other violence Sunday, two women and two children were killed in a landmine blast in the Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan. Authorities say the landmine had been planted near a house.