U.S. drone strike kills 5 militants in Pakistan

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A pilotless U.S. drone fired two missiles into a Taliban communication centre in a volatile tribal region on the Afghan border, killing five militants, intelligence officials said on Saturday.

The attack on the centre run by Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistani Taliban chief and an al Qaeda ally, took place late on Friday in the South Waziristan region.

"The communication centre is totally destroyed and we have reports of the death of five militants," an intelligence agency official told Reuters by telephone from the region.

The United States, grappling with an intensifying Afghan insurgency, began stepping up attacks by drones on northwestern Pakistani militant enclaves a year ago.

Most of the recent attacks have hit Mehsud's targets in Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan. More than 40 fighters were killed in similar strikes in the region on Wednesday.

U.S. military officials accuse Mehsud of providing suicide bombers for insurgents attacks against U.S., NATO and Afghan targets in Afghanistan. The United States has announced a reward of $5 million on information leading to the arrest or location of Mehsud.

The militant leader is also accused of being behind the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and a campaign of suicide and bomb attacks across the country in recent years.

The Pakistani military has also carried out air strikes on Mehsud's targets in recent weeks and is preparing to mount an all-out assault against him as it nears the end of an offensive in northwestern Swat valley launched in late April.