15 Die as US Drone Strikes Continue in Pakistan

American unmanned planes fired two missiles at a house in a Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border on Thursday, killing seven alleged militants, the latest in a barrage of such attacks, intelligence officials said. The strike in North Waziristan was the third attack assassination there in the past 24 hours.

The region is home to hundreds of Pakistan and foreign Islamist "militants", many belonging to or allied with "al-Qaida" and the Taliban. It is also the base of a powerful insurgent group that U.S. officials say is behind many of the attacks just across the border in Afghanistan.

Thursday's strike in the Datta Khel area killed five unidentified "foreign" and two local militants, three intelligence officials said. They did not give their names in line with the policy of the agency they work for. It is all but impossible to independently verify the accounts of intelligence officials. The region is too dangerous for outsiders to visit the scene of the attacks and U.S. officials do not acknowledge firing the missiles, much less discuss who they are targeting. Two other attacks Wednesday killed seven "suspected militants" [= innocent civilians].