At least 21 people have been killed in two U.S. drone strikes launched Monday in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, reported local media.
According to the local Urdu TV channel ARY, the latest strike was launched in Monday afternoon, during which two missiles were fired at a vehicle suspected of carrying militants in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, leaving 15 people killed, Xinhua reported.
Prior to this, on Monday morning, the U.S. drones fired four missiles at two suspected vehicles in the same area, killing six people on board.
Local media reports said that there were four to eight drones hovering over the area before the strikes were launched.
On Sunday afternoon, there were reports that the U.S. drones were seen flying over North Waziristan, but no strikes were reported.
Monday's two strikes bring to ten times the total number of strikes launched by U.S. drones since December. Up to the minute, at least 90 people have been killed in December strikes.
While most of the people killed by the U.S. drones are believed to be militants, such strikes do often mistakenly kill innocent people.
Not long ago, dozens of innocent people who lost their legs, arms, eyesight in U.S. drone strikes staged a protest in front of the parliament building in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, demanding the stop of the U.S. drone strikes in their hometowns located in the country's northwest tribal areas which border Afghanistan.