A suspected US missile strike in Pakistan"s North Waziristan tribal district on Friday killed at least eight people, officials said, according to dpa. The airstrike took place in the Machikhel area, situated near the region"s main town of Mir Ali. "We are receiving reports of at least two explosions which left eight militants dead," an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. The local administration in North Waziristan, a known hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda members, confirmed the attack but did not give details about casualties or the target. A similar assault just after midnight on Wednesday killed four insurgents in the same district that adjoins the troubled South Waziristan region, a mountainous area where Pakistani troops are battling with thousands of Taliban fighters. Islamist militants have stepped up attacks in towns and cities after the security forces launched the offensive against their network on October 17. The militants" main target remains Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan"s North-West Frontier Province, which is close to the tribal areas. Early on Friday, a remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle on patrol in the city"s Yakka Toot neighbourhood, killing three officers and wounding six more, area police chief Abdul Qadir said. The bombing occurred hours after a suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives at the gates of a court complex in Peshawar, killing at least 19 people. Three policemen who intercepted the attacker on Thursday morning were among the dead. Meanwhile, a media report said on Friday that 16 members of a family were killed when a bomb dropped from a jet fighter demolished their mud house. Citing the locals, English-language daily The News reported that the incident took place in Orakzai, another tribal district where air force jets and military helicopter gunships have carried out dozens of raids on Taliban hideouts. Orakzai is emerging as the new militant headquarters, where hundreds of Taliban fighters fleeing the South Waziristan operation have taken shelter with their local comrades.
