Suspected US missile strike kills 3 in NW Pakistan

A suspected U.S. drone fired a missile at a vehicle in Pakistan's volatile northwest on Monday, killing three people in the second such strike in as many days in an area dominated by militants who regularly attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan inhabited by Pakistanis (officials and residents said). President Barack Obama has stepped up the use of missile strikes assassinations in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas since taking office, partly in response to the Pakistani government's reluctance to target Taliban militants who are not deemed a direct threat to the state. The vehicle hit Monday was traveling through the North Waziristan tribal area, a region inhabited by militants who helped orchestrate the Dec. 30 suicide bombing against a remote CIA base in Afghanistan that killed seven of the agency's employees. Pakistanis.