10 killed in US drone missile strike in Miran Shah

Islamabad, Sept.12 : At least ten people were killed Friday, allegedly by a missile strike from a U.S. pilotless drone inside Pakistan's lawless northwest border region.

CBS quoted a senior Pakistani intelligence official as saying that Friday morning's attack took place near Miran Shah, a town in North Waziristan, which is the capital of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The strike came as senior European and Arab diplomats warned that the widening rift between Pakistan's leadership and Washington over the sharp increase in American military activity on Pakistani soil could undermine counter-terrorism efforts.

Speaking to CBS News on condition of anonymity, the official said, "the casualties could rise but at least ten people are believed to have been killed."

A local official in the Miran Shah area, which is about 11 miles east of the border with Afghanistan, told CBS News that the death toll could be as high as 12.

The latest strike comes amid reports that U.S.President George W Bush has secretly approved U.S. military raids inside Pakistan to go after alleged terrorist targets.

Pakistan's new civilian leadership and its military commanders have reacted with anger to what they call a violation of their country's sovereignty.

Voicing Pakistan's frustration with this development, its army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, said that Pakistan would not allow foreign troops to operate on its soil.

Meanwhile, a European envoy posted to Islamabad has told CBS News that European NATO members have been urging both the U.S. and Pakistan to end their squabbling over who should and should not be operating in the border region.

Similar appeals have been made by an Arab diplomat, who said the US-Pakistan alliance could collapse if some sanity is not maintained.

In the past 24 hours, the Pakistan military has confirmed the deaths of 32 militants and two Pakistani soldiers in the country's Bajur region.

ANI