Islamabad: At least eight people were killed and four others injured in two separate U drone strikes launched in the wee hours of Thursday morning, according to local media reports.
The first strike took place shortly after 12:00 a.m. local time when U.S. drones reportedly fired eight missiles at a house suspected to be a militant hideout in Haider Khel village in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.
At least five people were killed and four others injured in the strike and an important Taliban leader was believed to be living in the house, said local media.
The identities of the victims are not immediately known.
The house was completely leveled to ground and caught fire after the strike, said eyewitnesses, adding that the death toll could further rise as some people were feared buried under the debris of the destroyed house.
Shortly after the first strike, media reports said that US drones launched another strike at a house in the Eissu Khel village in the same area, which killed at least three people.
Local media quoted unidentified sources from Inter-Services Public Relations, an army mouthpiece in the country, as saying that ten missiles were fired and eight suspected militants were killed in the strikes.
Tuesday morning`s strike is the fifth of its kind launched by U. S. drones in Pakistan in 2013. So far at least 38 people have been killed in such strikes. They include some important Taliban commanders like Wali Muhammad, chief of Pakistan Taliban``s suicide wing.
(ANI)
