Intelligence officials says suspected US drone missile strike kills 4 in NW Pakistan

Officials: Suspected US drone kills 4 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. drone attacked a compound in Pakistan’s volatile tribal area Tuesday, killing four people as part of an unprecedented wave of strikes since a deadly attack against the CIA across the border in Afghanistan, said intelligence officials.

Two missiles slammed into a building in the Deegan area of North Waziristan, a zone dominated by the Haqqani network, an al-Qaida-linked Afghan Taliban faction that many suspect helped orchestrate the Dec. 30 suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees at a remote base in Khost province.

Tuesday’s strike was the 12th since the CIA attack. The unmanned aircraft have also targeted the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, who appeared in a video alongside the Jordanian man who carried out the suicide bombing. But a series of strikes against his stronghold in South Waziristan apparently failed to take out the militant leader.

The identities of those killed in Tuesday’s attack were unknown, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The area hit in the attack is located 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of the town of Miran Shah and 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the Afghan border.

The U.S. does not usually comment on the drone strikes or their targets, but officials have said in the past that they have taken out several senior al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

While the Pakistani government publicly condemns the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, it is thought to have a secret deal with Washington allowing them.