US drone strike kills five in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR // A US drone strike killed at least five militants on Monday in a Pakistani tribal region where Islamabad launched a full-scale military offensive last year.

The strike targeted a Taliban compound in the North Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan, and an area that has been a hub for Al Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

It was the fourth such strike this year.

Recent drone attacks by the US have raised speculation that Washington and Islamabad are coordinating their military efforts.

Pakistan however officially denounces the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty.

Observers say the military has given its tacit acceptance, pointing to a six-month halt in strikes last year while the government tried to negotiate peace with the Taliban.

“A US drone fired two missiles at a compound in Shahi Khel neighbourhood of Shawal killing five terrorists,” a senior security official said.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to wipe out militant sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which have been used to launch attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani military launched a major offensive in the area in June and says it has killed more than 1,800 militants so far, with 126 soldiers having lost their lives.

The latest strikes came after Pakistan ramped up its anti-terror campaign in the wake of a December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 150 people, 134 of them children.

It was the worst single assault in the country’s history.

Prime minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the establishment of military courts for terror-related cases in order to accelerate trials, and has also lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty, reinstating it for terrorism-related cases.

Drone strikes in Pakistan have been gradually decreasing from a high in 2010, when there were 128.

Last year, 25 attacks in Pakistan killed up to 186 people, including two civilians, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which tracks drone strikes using media reports.

* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Reuters