he first two US drone strikes in Pakistan this year killed at least 16 militants Wednesday, as Washington resumed the controversial programme after a brazen Taliban attack on Karachi airport earlier this week.
The timing of the strikes is bound to raise suspicions of coordination between the two countries after drone attacks were reportedly suspended in December at Islamabad s request to give Pakistan space to pursue a peace process.
Pressure has been mounting on the government to launch a ground offensive in the Taliban-infested North Waziristan tribal district after a dramatic week that began with the all-night siege Monday of Karachi s Jinnah International Airport, in which 37 people, including the 10 attackers, were killed.
Those concerns were compounded by a follow-up attack Tuesday, also claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in which gunmen fired upon an airport checkpoint but failed to inflict any casualties and later escaped.
Pakistani air force jets took to the skies the same day, pounding suspected militant hideouts and leaving at least 25 dead.
The US drone strikes took place within hours of each other, one late Wednesday and the second at the same site early Thursday, as militants gathered to dig out the bodies and search for the injured.
The first struck a vehicle and a compound in the village of Dargah Mandi in North Waziristan, where almost 60,000 residents have fled since May fearing a long-rumoured offensive.
An intelligence official in Miranshah, the region s main town some 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the village, said the missiles had struck a pick-up truck carrying about six militants and laden with explosives.
"Four of them were Uzbeks and two were Punjabi Taliban," he said, referring to militants from Pakistan s central Punjab province.
The official said the militants had parked their pick-up truck against the outer wall of the compound -- both of which were destroyed and remained ablaze.
