US missiles slam into militant hideout in Pakistani tribal region, killing 5 militants

ISLAMABAD – A pair of missiles fired from an unmanned American spy aircraft slammed into a militant hideout in northwestern Pakistan on Monday evening, killing five militants, said Pakistani intelligence officials.

The two officials said missiles from the drone aircraft hit the village of Dawar Musaki in the North Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan to the west. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Some of the dead were believed to be foreign fighters but the officials did not know how many or where they were from.

The CIA’s drone program is extremely controversial in Pakistan where residents view it as an affront to their sovereignty and contend it often results in civilian deaths. Washington says the program is vital to combating militants that threaten the U.S. and who use Pakistan’s tribal regions as a safe haven.

Pakistan wants the drone strikes stopped — or it wants to control the drones directly — something the U.S. refuses.

The Monday evening strike was the second in three days. On Saturday a U.S. drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in northwest Pakistan, killing four suspected militants.

That attack took place in the village of Mohammed Khel, also in North Waziristan.

North Waziristan is the last tribal region in which the Pakistan military has not launched an operation against militants, although the U.S. has been continually pushing for such a move. The Pakistanis contend that their military is already overstretched fighting operations in other areas but many in the U.S. believe they are reluctant to carry out an operation because of their longstanding ties to some of the militants operating there such as the Haqqani network.