Two US missile attacks kill nine in Pakistan

A Pakistani security officer checks confiscated sacks of ammonium nitrate, substance used to make explosives in Lahore on Tuesday. Photo: AP.

Pakistan officials say two suspected U.S. missile strikes have killed at least nine militants in northwestern Pakistan.

An intelligence official and an army official say some insurgents were also wounded in Wednesday’s strikes in two separate areas of the North Waziristan tribal region.

They said the first strike targeted a vehicle near Miran Shah, which is the main town in North Waziristan. About 50 minutes later, three missiles also hit a vehicle carrying insurgents in another town.

The CIA has repeatedly targeted militant positions in Pakistan’s tribal regions since December, when a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan.

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