A US drone strike on a vehicle on Thursday killed five commanders of one of Pakistan’s most influential Taliban leaders, Maulvi Nazir, one of the faction’s senior commanders told Reuters.
Nazir’s faction, based in Pakistan’s South Waziristan, where the drone struck, focuses on attacking US-led NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.
The senior commander identified four of the dead as Hazrat Omar, Nazir’s younger brother, Khan Mohammad, Miraj Wazir and Ashfaq Wazir.
The US has killed high-profile al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s restive tribal regions with drone strikes.
The latest attack comes nearly a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Islamabad accompanied by high-level US military and intelligence officials.
Clinton again urged Pakistan to eliminate what Washington says are safe havens along its porous border with Afghanistan.
The New America Foundation think tank estimates at least 325 militants were killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan this year.
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