Suspected US missile kills 6 in Pakistan

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – A suspected U.S. missile strike by a drone aircraft flattened a home in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least six people, two intelligence officials said.

An unknown number of people were also wounded in the attack in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, where Pakistan has launched several military operations in recent years against the Taliban, al-Qaida and their local supporters.

It was not immediately clear who the dead and wounded people were, the officials said.

Taliban fighters surrounded the targeted home and were transporting the bodies and wounded out, said the two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

No government or military spokesmen were available for comment.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its fight against terrorism, but it has opposed missile strikes in the country's tribal regions where Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents operate.

The U.S. has launched more than 30 missile attacks in recent months.

Saturday's attack came days after Pakistani leaders told Richard Holbrooke, an American envoy dispatched by President Barack Obama to the region, that the U.S. attacks should be stopped as they were counterproductive and fueling anti-American sentiment in this Islamic nation.

It also came a day after a militant group holding an American employee of the United Nations warned it would kill him within 72 hours and issued a grainy video of the blindfolded captive saying he was "sick and in trouble."