Back-to-back missile strikes on a training camp in Pakistan's lawless tribal region killed at least 13 militants Wednesday, the latest in a string of apparent U.S. attacks on Taliban targets in the wake of last week's suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. Pakistani sources said both missiles were fired by what appeared to remote-controlled drone aircraft. The CIA has staged more than 50 such strikes in the past year in Pakistan's autonomous tribal belt, long a sanctuary to Taliban militants and, U.S. officials believe, al-Qaeda's top leadership.
Wednesday's attacks brought to five the number of strikes against Taliban targets since Dec. 30, when a suicide bomber killed eight U.S. and allied intelligence operatives and wounded six others at the CIA's Forward Operating Base Chapman in eastern Afghanistan.
The CIA declines to comment on such strikes, and U.S. counterterrorism officials cautioned Wednesday against linking the latest attacks to last week's suicide bombing.
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