US drone strike kills four

American drone-fired missiles slammed into a car near the Afghan border on Monday, killing four suspected Islamist militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

American drone-fired missiles slammed into a car near the Afghan border on Monday, killing four suspected Islamist militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

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The missile strike took place in the Nargusa area of South Waziristan, which like much of the rugged border region is home to al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with their agency's rules.

The officials identified the dead men as Pakistani militants, but said they were not from the border region. Two other fighters were wounded in the strike.

The United States routinely fires missiles from unmanned drones at militants in northwest Pakistan.

Washington does not publicly acknowledge the program or say who it is targeting, but it is believed to strike at militants intent on crossing over the border into Afghanistan to fight US and NATO forces there. The attacks also target al-Qaida fighters holed up in the lawless tribal area along the frontier.

Monday's attack was the first recorded missile strike in Pakistan since July 12.

The CIA-led program is a source of tension between the United States and Pakistan, which formally protests the missile strikes and says they fuel militancy in the region. Claims of civilian casualties in the strikes are not publicly investigated.