U.S. drone kills five in Pakistan tribal area

A U.S. drone attack Saturday killed at least five militants in a remote Pakistani tribal town near the Afghanistan border, security officials said.

The drone fired two missiles on a compound in Shuwedar village in the troubled North Waziristan region considered a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda linked militants.

“U.S. drones fired two missiles into a militant compound. At least five militants were killed,” a security official told AFP.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties.

The attack came as people in the deeply religious region celebrated the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, they said.

Attacks by unmanned American aircraft are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-U.S. sentiment, but U.S. officials are said to believe the attacks are too important to give up.