US drone kills 5 militants in Pakistan
The drone struck in Barmal area of South Waziristan Agency, TV news channels quoted officials as saying.
Five bodies had been pulled out of the house, which caught fire after several missiles slammed into it.
Three
persons
were
injured
in
the
attack
and
officials
were
quoted
as
saying
that
the
death
toll
could
rise.
There
have
been
seven
drone
strikes
since
May
23.
Most of the strikes have been conducted in North Waziristan Agency, described by US and Afghan officials as a safe haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda elements.
Since yesterday, the drone strikes have focussed on South Waziristan, where the Pakistan Army carried out an operation to flush out the Taliban three years ago.
The US stepped up drone strikes shortly after the conclusion of the NATO Summit in Chicago, where Pakistan did not make any announcement about ending a six-month blockade of supply routes to Afghanistan.
The supply lines were shut after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year.
The drone strikes have added to tensions between the US and Pakistan, which has described the attacks as a violation of its sovereignty and called for them to be stopped.
The US had eased its drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas after a CIA contractor was arrested for shooting and killing two Pakistani men in Lahore early last year and the unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May last year.
PTI