U.S. drone kills 4 militants in Pakistan

In this Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012 file photo, American
citizens, hold a banner during a peace march
organized by Pakistan's cricket star turned
politician Imran Khan's party, not pictured, in
Tank, Pakistan.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A pair of suspected
U.S. missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft
killed four alleged militants early Wednesday
near the Afghan border in Pakistan, intelligence
officials said, the first drone strike since
Pakistan's nationwide elections earlier this
month.
The strike was also the first since President
Barack Obama's speech last week on the
controversial U.S. drone program and more
restrictive rules he was implementing on their
use in places such as Pakistan and Yemen.
Wednesday's strike came in the North Waziristan
tribal region, a stronghold for militants in the
mountainous stretch of land bordering
Afghanistan to the west. Pakistani intelligence
officials said the missiles hit a house in the
town of Miran Shah, the main town in North
Waziristan.
The officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to
talk to the media, said they suspected the house
was being used by foreign militants but had no
other details.
The tribal region is home to a variety of local
and Afghan militant outfits, including al-Qaeda-
linked fighters. The U.S. has often criticized
Pakistan, saying it does not vigorously target
militants in these areas. Using their safe havens
in Pakistan, militants are then targeting
American troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials say their military is already
overly overtaxed by fighting militants in both the
northwestern tribal regions and in the
southwestern province of Baluchistan and that
the casualties they've already incurred battling
militants have not been properly recognized.
Washington's drone program is extremely
unpopular in Pakistan, although the number of
strikes has dropped significantly since the
height of the program in 2010.
The country's incoming prime minister, Nawaz
Sharif, has repeatedly said he is against the use
of American drones on Pakistani soil, and
Pakistani officials have demanded publicly that
the program be stopped.
Senior civilian and military officials are known to
have supported at least some of the attacks in
the past, but that is no longer the case.
Pakistan has been hit by 355 such attacks since
2004, according to the New America Foundation,
a U.S.-based think tank. The figure does not
include Wednesday's strike. Up to 3,336 people
have died in the strikes, said the think tank.
Obama's speech last Thursday was his most
extensive comments to date about the secretive
drone program, which has come under increased
criticism for its lack of accountability.
The president cast drone strikes against Islamic
militants as crucial to U.S. counterterrorism
efforts but acknowledged that they are not a
"cure-all." The president also said he is deeply
troubled by civilians unintentionally killed in the
strikes and announced more restrictive rules
governing the attacks — measures that his
advisers said would effectively limit drone use in
the future.