Military's missile attack in southern Waziristan is the fifth in two weeks to target alleged al-Qaida operatives inside Pakistan

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

US missiles killed two suspected militants in north-west Pakistan on Saturday, as Washington pushed on with its controversial drone policy despite a widening rift with Islamabad.

Pakistani intelligence officials said the attack took place in Dogh village near Wana, the main town in the strife-torn southern Waziristan region.

It represents the fifth such strike in the country by American drones in the last two weeks and threatens to worsen already fraught relations between the two countries.

Authorities in Pakistan told the Associated Press that the two militants were targeted after emerging from a suspected hideout on Saturday.

The US views the use of drones as a key element in its artillery against al-Qaida and affiliated militants in the country.

Under a strategic review conducted earlier this year, the Pentagon announced it will increase the number of unmanned armed crafts in its arsenal by almost a third.

But the use of drones is controversial, with the Pakistani public resenting their use due to the high number of non-military casualties.

Figures from the London-based Bureau of Investigative journalism show that CIA drones struck Pakistan 75 times in 2011, causing up to 655 fatalities.

The majority of those killed were alleged militants, but as many as 126 civilians may also have lost their lives, the bureau's figures suggest.

Islamabad has demanded for a halt in the US programme of drone attacks and their continued use has further strained relations between the two countries.

Last year, Pakistan closed a key supply route into Afghanistan in retaliation to an American airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta last week described diplomatic conditions between Washington and Islamabad as "up and down", noting "this is one of the most complicated relationships we have had".

Negotiations have been further complicated by US criticism of Pakistan's jailing of a doctor who helped track down Osama bin Laden through a covert CIA scheme involving a fake vaccination programme.

Panetta described the 33-year jail sentence handed down as "difficult to understand and so disturbing".