US drone strikes

Suspected US drone aircraft strikes killed 15 Muslim militants in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, suggesting there will no letup this year in a campaign Washington says is hurting al Qaeda-linked groups. The attacks by unmanned U.S. drone aircraft were reported by local Pakistani intelligence officials in North Waziristan -- a sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border. A day earlier, five militants were killed by drones in the same region. The intensity of the attacks could mean a high-value target was spotted in the ethnic Pashtun tribal region. Leaders of the Haqqani network, one of the most lethal Afghan militant factions fighting U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan, are based in North Waziristan. Pakistan has resisted U.S. pressure to launch a full-scale offensive in North Waziristan, saying it is consolidating gains from major operations against militants in other tribal areas. Critics say Pakistan's reluctance stems from its desire to keep the Haqqani network as an asset in any future political settlement in Afghanistan. It is one of the most sensitive issues in often uneasy relations between the United States and Pakistan. Seven insurgents were killed in the first drone strike on Saturday when four missiles hit a vehicle and a militant compound in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan.