US drone strike kills 10 suspected militants in Pakistan

It was the sixth US drone strike over the last two weeks and emphasised the importance Washington puts on the drone campaign.

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ISLAMABAD // A US drone strike in the frontier tribal areas of Pakistan killed 10 suspected militants yesterday. It was the sixth such strike in two weeks as the US pushed ahead with its drone campaign in the face of Pakistani demands to stop.

The continued attacks emphasise the importance the US government puts on the drone campaign, which it considers to be a vital tool in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said four missiles were fired at targets in the village of Mana Raghzai in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.

At the time of the attack, suspected militants were gathered to offer condolences to the brother of a militant commander killed during another US drone attack on Saturday.

The brother was one of those who died in yesterday’s strike. The Pakistani officials said two of the dead were foreigners, and the rest were Pakistani.

The US drone campaign has been a source of deep frustration and tension between the US and Pakistan.

Under President Barack Obama, the US stepped up its drone campaign in the border areas as a way to combat Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who were using Pakistan as a base for attacks against American and Nato forces in Afghanistan