— U.S. unmanned aircraft fired missiles at a suspected militant compound and a vehicle Wednesday in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 10 alleged insurgents, intelligence officials said.
The attacks happened near Wana, the main town in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal area, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The 10 suspected militants who were killed were in the targeted compound and were believed to be allied with Maulvi Nazir, a prominent militant commander in the area, according to the officials. It wasn’t immediately clear if there were casualties in the vehicle strike.
South Waziristan was the main sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban until the army launched a large ground offensive in 2009. But militants continue to inhabit the area and often carry out attacks against Pakistani soldiers.
The U.S. does not publicly discuss drone strikes in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that they have killed several senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.
A suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded four in a strike Wednesday on the governor’s office in a northeastern province, while a mortar targeted a building where NATO and Afghan officials were attending the inauguration of the country’s largest police training center in central Afghanistan.
The two attacks, which occurred at about the same time, were a stark reminder that insurgents can strike anywhere in this volatile country.
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Provincial spokesman Halim Ayar said the bomber blew himself up about 220 yards from the office of Governor Azizul Rahman Tawab in Kapisa province. He said four of the dead were police officers and four were civilians. All the wounded were civilians, he added.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that seven people were killed, including two police officers and five civilians. It added that seven others were wounded, including a police officer. The discrepancy in the casualty numbers, which is common in the aftermath of such attacks, could not immediately be resolved.
