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U.S. Drone Strike Kills 5 in NW Pakistan

   VOA News 14 February 2010
   Undated  handout  photo  provided by U.S. Air Force shows MQ-9 Reaper,
   armed  with  GBU-12  Paveway  II  laser  guided  munitions and AGM-114
   Hellfire missiles

Photo: AP

   Undated  handout  photo  provided by U.S. Air Force shows MQ-9 Reaper,
   armed  with  GBU-12  Paveway  II  laser  guided  munitions and AGM-114
   Hellfire missiles

   Pakistani  officials  say a U.S. drone strike in the country's lawless
   northwest tribal belt has killed five people.
   Authorities   say   two  missiles  hit  a  building  Sunday  in  North
   Waziristan, an area on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan that is used
   as a sanctuary by al-Qaida and the Taliban.
   Officials  say  the identity of the people killed in the strike is not
   yet known.
   The U.S. has stepped up its drone attacks in the region since a bomber
   killed seven CIA employees late last year in Afghanistan.
   In  a  separate  development,  Pakistani officials say an explosion in
   Sindh  province,  in the south of the country, has killed three people
   and wounded at least nine others.
   There  is  no  word  on  what  caused  Sunday's  blast  in  Dadu,  but
   authorities  are  investigating  it  as  a bombing.  There has been no
   claim of responsibility.
   Pakistan  has been wracked by a Taliban-led insurgency that has killed
   hundreds of people in the past few months.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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