ISLAMABAD—U.S.
missiles slammed into three compounds close to the Afghan border
Friday, killing 18 suspected militants, Pakistani officials said, just a
day after the government summoned an American diplomat to protest drone
strikes in the country's northwest tribal region. The drones
struck the North Waziristan tribal area, the main militant sanctuary in
the country and the target of a planned Pakistani military operation
that the U.S. expects in the near future. Hundreds of militants and
their family members streamed out of North Waziristan in the past two
days in anticipation of the operation, local residents said. The
U.S. has long demanded Pakistan target militants holed up in North
Waziristan and has welcomed the planned operation in the area. But
Pakistan is likely to focus on Taliban militants who have been at war
with the state, not those who have been fighting the U.S.-led coalition
in neighboring Afghanistan. The suspected militant hideouts
destroyed by U.S. drones Friday were hit minutes apart and were located
several kilometers (miles) from each other in North Waziristan, said
intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to talk to reporters. The U.S. has
carried out seven drone strikes in the past week in North Waziristan,
ignoring Pakistani protests that they violate the country's sovereignty.
The attacks have exacerbated the already troubled relationship between
the two countries, but the U.S. has refused to stop the strikes,
saying they are vital to combating Taliban and al-Qaida militants who
pose a threat to the West. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on Thursday to protest the wave of drone strikes.

On
Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan called the
attacks "illegal, unproductive." He said they were a "violation of our
sovereignty and territorial integrity and in violation ... of
international laws." The Pakistani government is widely
believed to have supported the strikes in the past. That cooperation has
come under strain as the relationship between the two countries has
deteriorated, but U.S. officials say privately that there are still
senior members of Pakistan's government and military who condone the
attacks. The U.S. rarely discusses the covert CIA-run drone program in
Pakistan publicly. The strikes are unpopular in Pakistan
because many people believe they kill mostly civilians—an allegation
denied by the U.S. The suspected militant hideouts that were
attacked Friday in the Shawal area of North Waziristan were each hit by
two missiles, said the intelligence officials. Militants often use the
hideouts when they are crossing into Afghanistan, the officials said. In
addition to the 18 suspected militants who were killed, 14 others were
wounded, they said. In the earlier strikes in the tribal
area, five allies of a powerful warlord, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose forces
often attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan, died when a U.S. drone struck
their hideout last Saturday. And on Sunday, American drones fired a
flurry of missiles into North Waziristan, killing 10 suspected militants
in two separate strikes. On Tuesday, missiles targeting a vehicle in
the area killed five more suspected militants. One of the
reasons the U.S. has increased the number of drone attacks in Pakistan
was the government's refusal to launch an offensive in North Waziristan
against militants who carry out cross-border attacks against American
forces in Afghanistan. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
recently said Pakistan plans to launch an operation in North Waziristan
in the near future targeting the Pakistani Taliban, who have waged a
bloody insurgency against the Pakistani government for years. Analysts
have said they doubt Pakistan will target militants in North Waziristan
responsible for attacks in Afghanistan because they are not seen as
much of a threat to the state. Also, Pakistan has historical links with
some of the Afghan militants operating in the area, especially the
so-called Haqqani network, and many analysts believe Islamabad sees them
as key potential allies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw.
Many of the militants who started fleeing North Waziristan in
vehicles on Thursday were from Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, said local residents, speaking on condition
of anonymity out of fear for their safety. They also included some
Arabs and fighters from Chechnya. Many foreign fighters in North
Waziristan are closely allied with the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani
Taliban militants were seen patrolling the area, but did not seem to be
fleeing. Some local tribesmen were looking for homes outside of North
Waziristan to which they could flee, but did not seem overly concerned
about reports of an upcoming military operation. By Friday,
around 1,000 people, including wives and children of the foreign
militants, had fled from four villages surrounding Mir Ali, one of the
main towns in North Waziristan and a key sanctuary for militants
fighting in Pakistan, said local residents. It appeared the militants
would either head across the border to Afghanistan or to the neighboring
South Waziristan tribal area. The Pakistani army conducted a
major offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan in
2009, but militants still operate freely in some areas.