US drone kills five militants in Pakistan

A US drone strike on Monday killed at least five Islamic militants in Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. The strike targeted a compound in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, known as a bastion for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The drone fired two missiles, they said. A security official in Miranshah told AFP that five militants had been killed. "The compound was located in Khaderkhail village, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Miranshah, which is the headquarters of the North Waziristan tribal district," the official added. "This area has sanctuaries for all groups of Taliban and foreign militants," he said. Another security official in Peshawar confirmed the death toll. There has been a dramatic increase in US drone strikes in Pakistan since May, when a NATO summit in Chicago failed to strike a deal to end a six-month blockade on convoys transporting supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad and Washington have been seeking to patch up their fractious relationship in recent months, with the supply route reopening, after a series of crises in 2011 saw ties between the "war on terror" allies plunge. Attacks by unmanned US aircraft remain contentious -- they are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment. But American officials are said to believe they are too important to halt. Washington considers Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt as the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.