Suspected Us Drone Kills Six in Pakistan Hit

A suspected US drone killed at least six people in a missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials confirmed yesterday.

The strike is likely to worsen already poor relations between Washington and Islamabad and raise tensions inside Pakistan, where bomb attacks have been interpreted as reprisals for military action in the tribal areas.

In the wake of last month's attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, which killed more than 50 people, Britain's Foreign Office announced yesterday that it had decided to bring home the children of British diplomatic staff in Pakistan and give spouses and other dependents the option to return to the UK.

Several other western missions in Pakistan, including the US, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Australia have already introduced similar policies as the level of violence has risen.

The drone attack came amid reports that Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had fallen ill and died. Pakistani officials have accused him of being behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

According to local media, two missiles were fired at a house in the Khushali Torikhel area. Pakistani intelligence officials said the missiles struck the home of a local Taliban commander near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan region.

The officials said a US drone aircraft, not Pakistani forces, had fired the missiles. Pakistani media reported that among the dead were a number of foreign militants.

In recent weeks US forces have crossed into the border region with Afghanistan in missions aimed at destroying Taliban and al-Qaida militant bases there.