A U.S. missile strike killed five militants in Pakistan’s volatile northwest on Wednesday, as the country’s security forces press ahead with an offensive in a Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border.
Two missiles slammed into a house in a village in the Datta Khel area in the border region of North Waziristan, injuring two militants, besides the five dead.
Drone strikes in Pakistan resumed in June after a gap of six months, during which the Pakistani government pursued peace talks with the Taliban. Pakistan announced an anti-Taliban offensive in North Waziristan within days of the resumption.
The United States had long urged Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban stronghold in remote, mountainous North Waziristan.
The military ordered the entire civilian population of North Waziristan to leave before launching the ground offensive but residents said most of the militants also moved out.
Many have probably gone into hiding in Afghanistan or elsewhere in Pakistan, including in thickly forested valleys further south.
