Four suspected US missile strikes in NW Pakistan kill 11 militants, say intel officials

Intelligence officials say four suspected U.S. missiles strikes have killed 11 militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border.

The officials say the strikes occurred Wednesday in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal region.

The first attack targeted a house in Lataka village, killing four militants.

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Minutes later, a drone attacked a vehicle nearby, killing two foreign militants.

Another attack 15 minutes later against a second vehicle killed three militants.

The final attack occurred a half-hour later and targeted militants collecting bodies from the house destroyed in the first strike. The attack killed two militants.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

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KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants killed three anti-Taliban tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan, an official said Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks against tribesmen who dare stand up to the Islamist insurgents.

Two other elders were wounded in the shootout Tuesday night in the Bazai area of the Mohmand tribal region, local government official Javed Khan said. The killings occurred after the assailants ordered the tribesmen to halt at a checkpoint set up along a road, he said.

Mohmand has been the scene of occasional military operations against Taliban and allied insurgent groups.

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Pakistan has encouraged local tribes to form anti-Taliban militias in Mohmand and other parts of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border. Militants have in turn killed scores of tribesmen who side with the government.

Also Wednesday, gunmen killed an ethnic Baluch political activist in Pakistan’s southwest as he headed from his suburban home to the city of Kalat.

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Nooruddin Mengal, a leading member of the Baluchistan National Party, was on foot when a pair of gunmen rode up on a motorbike and fired at him, said Shukrullah Sasoli, a local police official. Mengal was the third prominent member of the party to be killed this year.

Sasoli declined to say who was suspected in the attack.

Baluchistan province has a number of nationalist movements, as well as a violent nationalist insurgency, calling for greater autonomy from the federal government. Their activities are of major concern to security and intelligence agencies, who often are blamed for targeted killings and disappearances of politicians.

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Associated Press Writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.