Suspected U.S. drone attacks militants in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles on Friday into Pakistan's South Waziristan region on the Afghan border where Pakistani troops are gearing up for an offensive against militants, intelligence officials said.

The United States, facing a growing Afghan insurgency, began stepping up drone attacks a year ago despite the complaints of its ally, Pakistan.

Three missiles targeted militant hideouts in an area controlled by Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud and there were believed to have been casualties, one of the officials said.

"The missiles hit an office of Mufti Noor Wali who was once in charge of training militants for suicide attacks," an intelligence official said.

He had no word on casualties but a resident of the region said 11 militants had been killed.

The attack came as Pakistani troops are closing in on Mehsud's strongholds and have carried out several air strikes by jet fighters in recent weeks to soften up targets before an expected full-scale offensive.

The attack came a day after thousands of U.S. Marines launched an offensive against the Afghan Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. [ID:nSP510469]

Helmand shares a 200-km (130-mile) desert border with the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

Pakistan officially objects to the strikes by pilotless U.S. aircraft on its soil saying they violate its sovereignty and undermine efforts to deal with militancy by inflaming public anger and bolstering support for the militants.