Pakistan officials: 3 US missile strikes kill 16
By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press
Jun 6, 2011 1:59 AM CDT

Pakistani intelligence officials say a third U.S. drone-fired missile strike has taken place close to the Afghan border. They say four more people have been killed in the latest hit, bringing the overall toll from the day's strikes to 16 dead.

The officials say the third missile hit a vehicle Monday traveling on the border between north and south Waziristan region.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because their agency does not allow its operatives to be named in the media.

Earlier, two missiles hit separate targets in a village in South Waziristan, killing 12 people.

On Saturday, a top al-Qaida commander is thought to have been killed by an American missile in South Waziristan.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) _ U.S. missiles struck two targets in a Pakistani tribal region along the border with Afghanistan early Monday, killing 12 suspected insurgents just days after one such strike is thought to have killed a top al-Qaida commander.

Also Monday, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed 18 people at a bakery in an army neighborhood in the northwest town of Nowshera the previous night. The militant group said the attack was vengeance for Pakistani army actions against them in the nearby Swat Valley.

Since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, both militant attacks and missile strikes have increased in the country. More than 150 people have died in suicide and other bombings alone, as militants have vowed to avenge the al-Qaida chief.

The U.S. raid also angered Pakistani leaders, who said it was a violation of their sovereignty and who say they did not know bin Laden was inside their borders.

Since the raid, Pakistani lawmakers have demanded that the U.S. stop its drone-fired missile strikes, but Washington, which rarely even acknowledges the CIA-run program, has not listened. Privately, the Pakistani security establishment is known to have aided in some of the strikes in the past.

The latest strikes occurred in South Waziristan tribal region, a major haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

One set of missiles hit a compound in Wucha Dana village, killing seven alleged militants. The second set landed around the same time at a Muslim seminary in the same village, killing five suspected insurgents, two Pakistani intelligence said.

The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

They said several Arab men were believed to be among the dead.

Pakistani authorities said Sunday that they were increasingly sure that a Friday missile strike in South Waziristan killed Ilyas Kashmiri, a top al-Qaida commander rumored to be a longshot contender to replace bin Laden as the terror network's chief.

Getting definitive confirmation about who died in a missile strike is difficult, however, especially if there's no body retrieved.

U.S. officials have not confirmed whether Kashmiri died. Pakistani officials declined to comment on whether they had assisted the U.S. in the strike.

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Associated Press Writer Rasool Dawar in Peshawar contributed to this report.