PAKISTAN -Suspected US missiles hit a house in a Pakistani tribal area early Monday, killing 10 alleged militants in the 10th airstrike in the region this month, intelligence officials said. The two officials said the missiles from an unmanned plane destroyed the home in the northern part of Shawal village, which is dominated by the Haqqani and Hafiz Gul Bahadur networks of militants fighting US troops across the border in Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the press. They say Taliban militants dug 10 bodies from the rubble of the house. Bahadur struck a truce with the Pakistani military and agreed to stay on the sidelines last year as it waged an offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area against the Pakistani Taliban, a group dedicated to attacking the Pakistani state, among other targets. Bahadur has focused instead on battling US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. A unrelenting series of US missile attacks this month have pounded North Waziristan, a lawless region also home to al-Qaeda leaders plotting attacks in the West and extremists responsible for bombings in Pakistan. A strike Sunday killed at least five of Bahadur's militants. The week before, four airstrikes pounded the area over 24 hours, the last killing five suspected militants early Thursday, officials said. There were at least four other attacks earlier in the week. Pakistan has condemned the American missile strikesas violations of its sovereignty, warning the civilian casualties they cause deepen anti-US sentiment and complicate the fight against terrorism. But many suspect the two countries have a deal allowing the drone-fired attacks.
