US drone kills four militants in Pakistan: officials

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Agence France-Presse

This Jan. 31, 2010 file photo shows a U.S. Predator drone flies over the moon above Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan. U.S. and Pakistani officials say Pakistan's intelligence chief will head to Washington late this month to resume counterterrorism talks suspended over a deadly border incident last year that killed two dozen Pakistani troops. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Missiles fired from a US drone killed at least four militants in Pakistan's restive tribal northwest on Sunday, security officials said.
 
The missiles struck a compound in Khushhali Turikhel village of the troubled North Waziristan tribal district on the Afghan border.
 
"US drones fired six missiles into a militant compound. At least four militants were killed," a security official told AFP.
 
"It is not immediately clear if there was an important militant killed in the attack," the official said.
 
Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties.
 
Khushhali Turikhel lies around 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan which is considered a stronghold of Islamist militants.
 
Washington considers Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt to be the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.