A US drone strike killed at least four militants in a northwest tribal district where pressure was building on Islamabad to launch a full-scale military operation, officials said.
The missiles hit a vehicle and a compound in Dargah Mandi village in North Waziristan, around 10 kilometres (six miles) west of the main town of Miranshah in an area considered a stronghold for the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network.
“A US drone fired two missiles which hit a vehicle and the compound, at least four militants have been killed,” a senior security official told the media.
Another security official confirmed the attack and death toll and told the media that initial information suggested that all those killed were Uzbek militants.
The strike came as Pakistani Taliban confirmed that Uzbek militants had been deployed in a siege of the country’s busiest airport that began Sunday night and ended late Monday morning, killing 37 people including the 10 attackers.
