US drone attacks kill nine in north-west Pakistan

At least nine people are reported to have been killed in two separate US drone attacks in north-west Pakistan on Saturday. Officials say six rebels were killed in the first attack in North Waziristan tribal district, while three died in the second.

AFP

Four missiles are reported to have hit a house used by insurgents in Dashgah village, near Datta Khel town.

All of those killed were connected to the Haqqani rebel network, intelligence officials told AFP news agency.

The group, which has links with the Taliban in Afghanistan, is one of the main targets of recent US military operations in the region.

According to Pakistani officials, the US carried out at least 21 drone attacks in Pakistan last month, most of them in North Waziristan, killing some 120 people.

On Thursday, Pakistan cut off the main Nato supply route to Afghanistan after blaming international forces for the death of three of its soldiers in a cross-border helicopter attack.

The route remained closed for the third day on Saturday, with queues of trucks and oil tankers forming by the main border crossing in Pakistan's Khyber district.