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US suspected in twelfth air strike on north Pakistan

The latest in a barrage of suspected US missile strikes in Pakistan’s northwest killed five people, but none was believed to be a foreign al-Qaeda fighter, officials said yesterday.

Two unmanned drones were seen above the town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan minutes before missiles hit a house near a matchbox factory on Saturday, two intelligence officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They said reports from local informants so far said none of the dead were foreigners.

The latest strike brings to 12 the number of missile attacks believed carried out by the US since mid-August.

More than 100 people, most of them alleged militants, have been killed, figures provided by Pakistani intelligence officials showed.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants launched a surprise attack on a key southern Afghan town, sparking a battle that killed about 60 insurgents, an Afghan official said yesterday. A second clash in the same region killed another 40 militants.

Taliban fighters used rockets and other heavy weapons to attack Afghan forces on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

Militants attacked the city from three sides starting just after midnight and were pushed back only after a battle that involved air strikes, Ahmadi said. Rockets landed in different parts of the city but there were no civilian casualties, he said.

NATO said its aircraft bombed insurgents after they observed them gathering for a major attack, killing “multiple enemy forces,” the military alliance said in a statement.

In a second battle in Helmand Province, Afghan and international troops retook the Nad Ali district center — which had been held by militants — during a three-day fight.
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