At least 24 killed, several injured in four US drone strikes in North Waziristan

At least 24 people have been killed in four separate drone attacks in North Waziristan. All four strikes were carried out during the last 24-hours.
According to government sources, a US drone attack Thursday killed six militants in North Waziristan, security officials said--the fourth strike in 24 hours. The latest strike hit North Waziristan, the same tribal district targeted in three other drone attacks since Wednesday. The target of the fourth drone attack was a compound in the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A total of 24 militants were killed in the four strikes. "Two US drones fired three missiles. We have reports that six militants were killed," a security official based in Peshawar told AFP. Residents in Miranshah said they heard three huge explosions and later the villagers started announcements from local mosques asking for help. "Militants have dug out six dead bodies. Five people were critically wounded," a local resident told AFP, requesting anonymity. "They are still digging the rubble, two nearby houses were also damaged," he added.
On the other hand a private TV report said that at least eight people, among them four children, were killed Wednesday when a second suspected US drone launched an airstrike at North Waziristan in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt. Intelligence officials said they were trying to find out the nationalities of the militants killed, but they had no reports about the presence of any high-value target. "An informer told us there were some Afghan Taliban among the dead but we are investigating," one intelligence official in Miranshah told AFP. Two intelligence officials in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the death toll. The aerial raids in Pakistan, initiated by former US president George W. Bush, have been escalated under President Barack Obama. The US military does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region. More than 1,040 people have been killed in over 100 drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, including a number of senior militants. However, the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country. The issue of civilian casualties has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington. Pakistan has repeatedly condemned the attacks as a violation of its sovereignty but has also supported the US with its tacit understanding. There was no independent confirmation and militants often dispute government accounts.