US drone attack in Pakistan kills 16

Up to 16 suspected Taliban fighters are thought to have been killed and four injured after a US drone strike targeted a militant compound in north-western Pakistan. It's the seventh attack in the last two weeks, with unconfirmed reports that some foreigners are among the dead. It follows increased tension between Pakistan and Washington, which has ignored demands to stop the use of unmanned aircraft.


Two U.S. drones targeted a house and vehicle in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, a restive tribal area on Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Monday morning's drone strike is the third of its kind over the last 48 hours. Xinhua

It was seventh such strike in two weeks as the U.S. boosts its drone campaign in the face of Pakistani demands to stop.

The attack came hours after another American drone strike killed 10 people in the frontier tribal areas of Pakistan on Sunday.

On Saturday morning, four people were killed when U.S. drones attacked a house in Ghowa Khowa area of South Waziristan.

Washington claims attacks by the unmanned aerial vehicles target militants. However statistics show most victims are civilians.

U.S. drone strikes have killed as many as 2,800 civilians in northwestern Pakistan over the past seven years, according to Shahzad Akbar, Pakistani attorney and director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights -- an organization that has investigated the U.S. drone operations in Pakistan.

The strikes are a major stumbling block in restoring ties with Washington, badly frayed after a cross-border attack by NATO aircraft on Nov. 26 last year killed 24 Pakistani troops.