US drone strike kills 4 in Pakistan

A US drone strike killed at least 4 people in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region Monday night, correspondents in region said here Monday, IRNA reported.

The spy aircraft fired four missiles on a compound and a vehicle at Naurak, a small town, some 15 kilometers from Miranshah,the center of North Waziristan, they said.

No information was available as to who were targeted.

It was the forth strike in Waziristan tribal region in five days.

On Sunday, a US spy aircraft fired six missiles on a house in North Waziristan tribal area and killed at least 6 people.

At least ten people, including two Taliban commanders, were killed in both strikes in South and North Waziristan on Thursday.

The US has stepped up drone strikes in recent days despite strong opposition by the Pakistani Government.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that no permission had been granted to the United States to launch drone attacks on targets inside Pakistan.

"Gilani, who was in Australia, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), told a group of Pakistani expatriates said that the rone attacks were counter-productive because they caused collateral damage and undermined the government's efforts to garner support against extremists and terrorists.

He said the drone attacks were one of the reasons why relations between Pakistan and the US had deteriorated in recent months.

Hundreds of tribesmen staged a rally in Islamabad on Friday and called for immediate halt to the American drone strikes in the tribal regions. They said that innocent people are killed in the strikes.

The US spy aircraft routinely fires missiles in the Pakistani tribal regions, claiming that they target suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.