MIR ALI, Pakistan – An apparent US missile attack destroyed a suspected insurgents compound in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least ten people, intelligence officials said. It was not immediately clear who was targeted in the strike, in the Datta Khel region of North Waziristan, the two officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media. An unknown number of people were injured. The area is the home of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful warlord whose fighters are battling US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The CIA has stepped up missile strikes on insurgent positions in Pakistan's tribal regions since December, when a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in neighbouring Afghanistan. Pakistan publicly criticises the US missile attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel more anti-Americanism among the population, but Islamabad is widely believed to be sharing intelligence with the Americans on at least some of the strikes. Washington refuses to publicly discuss the programme, which uses unmanned drones, but Pakistani intelligence and government officials said privately the attacks have killed several senior al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in recent years.
