PESHAWAR: A pair of US missile strikes hit a vehicle and an alleged insurgent training facility Wednesday in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing 23 suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The two missile strikes bring this week's count to five. They are the latest sign that the US has no intention of abandoning the tactic despite public disapproval in Pakistan and a downturn in relations between Islamabad and Washington following the American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The strikes occurred within minutes of each other, the four Pakistani intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media. One missile hit a vehicle carrying five men. The other struck a nearby compound, killing 18 people in the Shawal area, which lies along the border that separates the South and North Waziristan tribal regions. The compound is believed to have housed a training camp for extremists, the officials said. Both regions are home to various militant groups, including several involved in attacks on Western forces across the border in Afghanistan. The area hit Wednesday was on the North Waziristan side, in territory under the control of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a warlord involved in the Afghan fight. North Waziristan is the usual target for US missiles because it is home to more groups fighting in Afghanistan and because the Pakistani military has resisted US appeals to launch an offensive there. But this week's strikes had mostly hit South Waziristan or along the border of the two regions. Pakistan's army has sent home two-thirds of the US military personnel who were training its forces in counterinsurgency skills along the porous border with Afghanistan. A senior Pakistan military official said late Tuesday that 90 of an estimated 135 US trainers have left the country, the latest setback in the deeply troubled relationship between the US and Pakistan's military following the May 2 US raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin laden. The 90 Americans had been training the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force made up mostly of tribesmen from the frontier areas, according to the military official, who asked not to be named in accordance with military practice. The Frontier Corps is Pakistan's front line force against militants in the tribal regions. The US military personnel were teaching members of the force to become trainers. The US has confirmed it is reducing the number of its military personnel in Pakistan but has not given an exact figure. “We have reassessed our requirements and sent 90 people home,” said the Pakistani military official.
