US drone strike kills five in NW Pakistan

Three missiles fired by US drone aircraft killed five militants on Monday in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, a bastion of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters, security officials said. The latest in a series of US drone attacks targeted militants in the centre of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, a rebel stronghold near the Afghan border. "Five people have been killed and three wounded in the attack. It was an American drone attack," an intelligence official in Miranshah told AFP by telephone. A security official in Peshawar confirmed the strike saying missiles from two drones hit a compound in Miranshah, while residents said the missiles struck two different buildings close to each other in the main bazaar. "I was in the mosque when I heard three huge explosions. The electricity was disconnected after the explosions," one resident told AFP by telephone requesting anonymity.