A US drone strike targeting a militant compound in Pakistan's north-western tribal district has killed at least five militants, security officials said.


Reaper

The unmanned aircraft fired two missiles on the compound in the Shawal area, about 50 kilometres south-west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district, near the Afghan border.


Hellfire

"At least five militants have been killed and three have been wounded. The compound was completely destroyed," a senior security official based in Peshawar city told AFP.

All those killed were fighters linked with local warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur,another security official based in Miranshah told AFP.Bahadur, who is allied with Afghan Taliban, is accused of fighting US-led troops across the border.

He last week imposed a ban on anti-polio vaccination teams in protest at US drone strikes, officials said.

Local officials told AFP on Tuesday that they had so far failed to convince him to allow the vaccinations.

Bahadur said the ban would remain until the US stops drone attacks in the tribal region.

Washington considers Pakistan's semi-autonomous north-western tribal belt the main
hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.


ABC/AFP