PESHAWAR: At least six suspected militants, Uzbek nationals among them, were killed on Monday evening in a US drone attack in North Waziristan’s Shawal valley, near the Afghan border.

According to sources, two drones fired four missiles into a compound and a stationary vehicle in Zoi Naray village about 5km from the border, leaving six people dead and two others injured.

The dead included militants from Uzbekistan and local tribesmen affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the sources said. Two of them stood guard outside the compound. “The vehicle caught fire after the attack,” the sources said.

This was the second drone attack in the tribal region this month and the seventh this year, raising the total number of those killed to 41, including American hostage Warren Weinstein and Italian Lo Porto. The United States said senior Pakistani and American Al Qaeda leaders Ustad Ahmad Farooq and Ahmad Ghaddan were also killed in last month’s drone strikes.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2015

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