Two suspected US missile attacks kill 45 in Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN – Suspected US drones launched two missile attacks on Taliban targets in the South Waziristan tribal region yesterdayy, killing at least 45 militants in the latest in a barrage of strikes close to the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.

The army said the top Taliban commander in another area of the northwest, the scenic Swat Valley, was wounded in a Pakistani airstrike.
South Waziristan lies close to the Afghan border and is the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
The first strike took place before dawn. A suspected US drone fired six missiles at a mountaintop training camp in the Karwan Manza area of South Waziristan, killing 10 militants, the intelligence officials said. The nationalities and the identities of the slain men were not immediately known.
Hours later, 20 kilometres to the east, missiles believed fired from a US drone hit four vehicles carrying Taliban militants, killing at least 35, including a key Taliban commander, one intelligence official said. He did not disclose the commander’s identity.
Other intelligence officials put the death toll as high as 50.
– Nampa-AP