Missile Strikes in NW Pakistan Kill 14 Militants

Pakistani Intelligence officials say the first attack killed at least 10 militants when a series of missiles fired from a drone aircraft struck a compound in the Shawal district of North Waziristan tribal region.
Later, a second strike targeted a vehicle near the region's main town of Miranshah, leaving four militants dead.

The area is considered a stronghold for Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants accused of planning and staging cross-border attacks against NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

The United States has carried out at least 100 missile strikes on militants in Pakistan's tribal belt since 2008. More than 1,000 people have been killed.

Pakistani officials publicly condemn the strikes, saying they violate the country's territorial sovereignty and fuel militant attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

In other violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for an immediate investigation into Tuesday's fatal shooting of Misri Khan, president of the Hangu Union of Journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The New York-based group quoted news editor of the Urdu-language daily Ausaf (Shahid Sabir) as saying Khan was shot several times as he entered the press club building in the town of Hangu near the Afghan border.

CPJ's Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz said the killing of Misri Khan must not be allowed to become just another statistic. He added there is already a long list of journalists whose deaths have gone unexplained.