US missile strikes targeting militants cause resentment in Pakistan

At least five people have been killed in a suspected US missile strike on a tribal district in north-west Pakistan, security officials have said.

The attack hit a suspected militant hide-out in North Waziristan, near the Afghanistan border, the officials said.

The strike comes two days after Taleban rebels in the area warned of reprisals if such attacks continued.

There is widespread anger in Pakistan at the increasing use of missile strikes along the Afghan border.

Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of the Punjab region and head of a key political party, said the US was raising tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

"This is creating anger in Pakistan. This is creating friction between our two countries," he told the AFP news agency.

'Sovereignty violated'

There were conflicting reports about exactly who was killed in the latest attack, although several reports said at least five people died.

One report suggested four of the five killed were militants, several of them foreigners. Another said three of the five were children.

Two or three missiles were reported to have been fired from a drone aircraft, destroying a "militant hideout in the village of Alikhel in North Waziristan," AFP quoted an unnamed senior security official as saying.

Pakistan has said that the missile strikes infringe its sovereignty.

On Thursday the government summoned the US ambassador in Islamabad to protest after an attack deep inside Pakistani territory killed five people a day earlier.

Waziristan on the Afghan border is believed to be a safe haven for the Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

The US says the insurgents use the territory to launch attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has been pursuing a policy of ad-hoc peace deals with local Taleban commanders.



