From the report at DAWN:
US drone strikes targeting three militant compounds on Friday killed at least eight suspected militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.
The strikes in Tundar village in North Waziristan, known as a bastion of Taliban and al Qaeda, came a day after Pakistan summoned a US diplomat to protest over the attacks, calling them “unlawful”.
“US drones fired six missiles, two each on the three militant compounds, killing eight rebels,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said several drones were flying over the village at the time of the strike.
You'll see from the article that there are reports of more casualties coming and that more targets were hit in this operation - which leads me to believe that there was intel coming in on this that said there was at least one REALLY big fish here in this compound area. It sounds to me like there was really at least three drones involved in this and that the CIA knew someone very important was in this string of compound units but we didn't know which one. I'll make a prediction - in the next few days we will get the report that we got one big time player in the leadership of either the Taliban or al Qaeda in this predator strike.
US drone kills eight in North Waziristan: officials
PESHAWAR: US drone strikes targeting three militant compounds on Friday killed at least eight suspected militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.
The strikes in Tundar village in North Waziristan, known as a bastion of Taliban and al Qaeda, came a day after Pakistan summoned a US diplomat to protest over the attacks, calling them “unlawful”.
“US drones fired six missiles, two each on the three militant compounds, killing eight rebels,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said several drones were flying over the village at the time of the strike.
Another security official confirmed the strikes and casualties, adding that the identities of the dead were not immediately clear, saying that the death toll may rise.
“We are gradually getting information from the area of the new strikes, which is mountainous and covered by thick forest,” he said.
It is an area used by militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Afghan Taliban allied Haqqani network and Hafiz Gul Bahadur group.
The attacks come a day after Pakistan’s Foreign Office summoned a senior American diplomat to protest against US drone strikes in the country’s troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The US State department confirmed the protests on Thursday.
Pakistan has repeatedly criticised American drone strikes on its territory, calling them counter-productive in the fight against terrorism.
Attacks by unmanned US aircraft are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment, but American officials are said to believe the attacks are too important to give up.
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