Intel: 2 suspected US strikes kill 8 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani intelligence officials say a second suspected U.S. missile strike has hit a house in a Pakistani tribal region near Afghanistan, killing people who were retrieving bodies from the first attack.

At least two people died in the second strike Tuesday in North Waziristan's Ghulam Khan area. The first strike occurred three hours earlier and killed six suspected militants.

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

U.S. missile strikes nearly always target North Waziristan, a region that hosts several militant groups battling U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, including the feared Haqqani network.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A suspected U.S. missile strike killed six militants in a tribal region along the Afghan border on Tuesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack was the second in two days, and came in the final days of a year that has seen an unprecedented number of such strikes as part of a ramped-up U.S. campaign to take out al-Qaida and Taliban fighters seeking sanctuary outside Afghanistan.

Around 115 such missile strikes have been launched this year - more than doubling last year's total. Nearly all have landed in North Waziristan, a region that hosts several militant groups battling U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, including the feared Haqqani network.

Tuesday's strike hit a house in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan. An unmanned drone fired two missiles at the residence, the Pakistani intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The officials did not know the identities of those killed but said they were militants.

On Monday, U.S. missiles struck two vehicles in another part of North Waziristan, killing at least 18 alleged militants in two vehicles, intelligence officials said.

Pakistan officially protests the strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty and anger tribesmen whose support it needs to fend off extremists. But Islamabad is widely believed to secretly support the strikes and provide intelligence for at least some of them.

U.S. officials rarely discuss the covert, CIA-run missile program. Privately, however, they say it is a crucial tool and has killed several top militant leaders. They also say the drone-fired strikes are very accurate and usually kill militants.

Information from Pakistan's tribal belt is very hard to verify independently. Access to the area is legally restricted, and ongoing conflict there makes it dangerous territory.

Also Tuesday, a low-intensity bomb exploded near a cafeteria at the Karachi University in the southern port city of Karachi, wounding at least two students, police said. Police official Naeem Khan said the explosive was in parcel and that officials were trying to determine who planted it.