A pair of US drone strikes in the Mir Ali village of North Waziristan have left at least 25 people dead. The drones targeted a pair of vehicles but also appear to have killed a number of people around those vehicles as well.

Though the Pakistani government, as usual, was quick to declare every single person killed an “alleged militant,” officials also conceded that they had no idea who any of the people killed were, suggesting that once again the shoot first and inquire later (if ever) policy of the drone program has probably killed a number of random tribesmen.

The drone program has caused a record number of deaths in 2010, and has come under renewed scrutiny amid reports that, as with the 2009 strikes, there are major numbers of civilian deaths going completely unreported in the international media.

The Obama Administration has been repeatedly demanding a full Pakistani invasion of North Waziristan, but in recent days suggestions have leaked that the administration may be planning to send US troops across the border instead. Pakistan’s government has approved its own military invading North Waziristan, but has rejected the notion of a US invasion.