U.S. Drone Strikes Kill 6 Militants in Pakistan’s Tribal Region

Two separate U.S. drone strikes killed at least six militants Sunday in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.

"At least two militants were killed and two others wounded when a U.S. drone fired two missiles at the site of this morning's attack where militants were removing the wreckage of their two destroyed vehicles," a security official told Agence France Presse.

A U.S. drone strike targeting two militant vehicles early Sunday killed at least four rebels in the same area, the security officials said.

It was the second missile attack in hours in Shawal district of North Waziristan region, considered a bastion of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants.

The first strike which targeted a compound had killed at least six militants in Shuwedar village in Shawal district on Saturday.

"U.S. drones fired four missiles on two militant vehicles in the early hours of Sunday, killing four militants," a Pakistani security official told Agence France Presse.

He said there were up to five drones flying in the area at the time of the attack.

Another security official confirmed the attack and casualties but said the identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known.

A local intelligence official in Miranshah, however, put the toll in the strike at six.

It was the fourth drone attack since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the second since Pakistan's spymaster, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, visited Washington earlier this month.

Islam's talks with his CIA counterpart were also said to have focused on drone strikes.

Attacks by unmanned American aircraft are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-U.S. sentiment, but U.S. officials are said to believe the attacks are too important to give up.

The latest attacks were in the same region where a drone strike on June 4 killed 15 militants, including senior al-Qaida figure Abu Yahya al-Libi.

In protest at U.S. drone attacks, local Taliban and Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur have banned vaccinations in North and South Waziristan, putting 240,000 children in the region at risk.

They have condemned the immunization campaign as a cover for espionage. In May, a Pakistani doctor was jailed for 33 years after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination program as cover.