U.S. drone strikes kill 5 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- U.S. drones fired a barrage of missiles at a vehicle and a house in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least five suspected militants, Pakistani officials said.

The strikes in the North Waziristan tribal area were the first since news that a top commander of the powerful Haqqani militant network was killed in a drone strike late last month, also in the tribal region.

Two intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. drones fired seven missiles at targets in the village of Degan in an area of North Waziristan close to the Afghan border.

They said the area is dominated by anti-American militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, but they did not know whether the men killed belonged to his group.

Bahadur's faction is alleged to have been involved in frequent attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but generally shies away from carrying out operations inside Pakistan. Several recent drone strikes have killed militants affiliated with Bahadur's group.

A drone strike a week ago in North Waziristan killed Badruddin Haqqani, one of the sons of the founder of the Haqqani network. The United States has blamed the group for high-profile attacks in Afghanistan and considers it a key factor in undermining security there.

Meanwhile, a group of gunmen on motorcycles in the southwestern province of Baluchistan killed seven Shia Muslims as violence against the minority sect continues.

Senior police officer Wazir Khan Nasir said four gunmen riding two motorcycles stopped a local bus near the central vegetable market of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

The gunmen identified seven people belonging to the Shia Hazara community, forced them off the bus and shot five of them dead. Two tried to run away but the gunmen chased them down and killed them in a nearby street, Nasir said.