U.S. drone ‘kills five Taliban commanders’ in Pakistan

A U.S. drone strike on a vehicle on Thursday killed five commanders of one of Pakistan’s most influential Taliban leaders, Maulvi Nazir, one of the faction’s senior commanders told Reuters.

Nazir’s faction, based in Pakistan’s South Waziristan, where the drone struck, focuses on attacking U.S.-led NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.

The senior commander identified four of the dead as Hazrat Omar, Nazir’s younger brother, Khan Mohammed, Miraj Wazir and Ashfaq Wazir, according to Reuters.

The United States has killed high-profile al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s restive tribal regions with drone strikes.

The strike indicates that U.S. intelligence has penetrated the close family circle of Maulvi Nazir, a Pakistani commander who leads Islamist militants in battle against American troops across the border in Afghanistan.

“The U.S. drones targeted a vehicle in the Azam Warsak area in South Waziristan and fired four missiles,” said one of the officials who was not authorized to speak publicly to the media, according to AFP.

It was the first drone strike for nearly two weeks, since Oct. 15, when another four fighters were killed in the mountains further west of Wana.

The latest attack comes nearly a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Islamabad accompanied by high-level U.S. military and intelligence officials.

Clinton again urged Pakistan to eliminate what Washington says are safe havens along its porous border with Afghanistan.

The New America Foundation think tank estimates at least 325 militants were killed in U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan this year.