The missiles pounded a militant compound in a village 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Pakistan's lawless tribal belt runs along the Afghan border and Washington has branded it the most dangerous place in the world, rife with Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants plotting attacks on Western targets.

"Two missiles fired by a US drone hit a compound which was being used by militants," said a senior security official in the area.

"Five militants were killed in the strike. One missile hit the compound and the other hit a nearby vehicle. Three people sitting in the car were killed and two others were killed in the compound."

Another security official confirmed the strike and casualties in Degan village. Neither official wanted to be named because of the sensitivity of the strikes, which fuel anti-American sentiment in the Muslim nation.

"It is not clear if any high-value target was present in the area at the time of the attack," the official said.

A volley of drone strikes has hit the northwest this month, all in North Waziristan, a bastion of Al-Qaeda fighters, the Taliban and the Haqqani network, known for staging attacks on US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Officials familiar with Degan said it was also a stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant close to the Taliban who is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters whom he sends across the border to attack troops in Afghanistan.

A number of US strikes last week are reported to have targeted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, but he dispelled rumours of his death in an audio recording Saturday, also vowing revenge for the drone programme.

More than 740 people have been killed in about 80 US drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008.

The bombings by unmanned US aircraft have soared recently, as US President Barack Obama puts Pakistan at the heart of his administration's fight against Al-Qaeda and Islamist extremists.

The Pakistani government publicly condemns the strikes but US officials say they are necessary to protect foreign soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, and say a number of high-value extremists have been killed in the bombing raids.

Hakimullah Mehsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike last August.

Washington is also pressing Islamabad to tackle militants who use Pakistani soil to launch attacks in Afghanistan, where about 113,000 troops under US and NATO command are battling a Taliban insurgency.

Last year, Pakistan's armed forces launched multiple assaults on Taliban strongholds across the tribal belt but up until now there have only been limited operations in North Waziristan.

earlier related report
US defence chief praises India's 'restraint' after attacks
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 19, 2010 - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates began a visit to India on Tuesday and praised the country for showing "restraint" since the Mumbai attacks, saying it had kept tensions with Pakistan under control.

Speaking to reporters before landing in New Delhi, Gates expressed admiration for how Indian leaders had reacted to the 2008 attacks that left 166 dead.

"The bombing in Mumbai was a really terrible event and frankly I believe that the Indians responded subsequently with a great deal of restraint and have conducted themselves in a very statesmanlike manner since that attack," he said.

India has blamed the assault by 10 heavily-armed gunmen on the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and called for stepped up pressure on Pakistan to rein in militants.

"I think that even within the framework of that attack and the suspicions that it created that the two sides have managed to keep the tensions between them at a manageable level," Gates said.

His comments came as he began a two-day visit to India during which the threat posed by militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be high on the agenda.

Gates, who was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna later Tuesday, said that India and the United States faced a common threat from violent extremists.

"Both of our countries know all too well the terrible human cost of terrorist attacks," Gates wrote in a commentary in The Times of India before his arrival.

Leaders of both governments have agreed to expand cooperation in sharing tactics and information in countering terror threats, including efforts to disrupt militant financial networks and safeguard public transit, he wrote.

Gates told reporters he also planned to provide India with an update on the NATO-led war in Afghanistan, a mission that his host has strongly endorsed.

Washington has been grateful for India's generous reconstruction aid to Afghanistan and steadfast backing for the war against Taliban insurgents.

After decades of mutual unease during the Cold War, India's relations with the United States have steadily improved and defence ties have expanded since the attacks of September 11, 2001, including annual joint military exercises.

Defence-related trade is also on the rise after a deal in July between the two countries opened the way for the sale of sophisticated US weaponry to India.

Gates called the "end-use monitoring" agreement "hugely important" but said more needed to be done to expand arms trade between the two countries.

He said more US legal barriers needed to be removed that would give India access to American-made military hardware, citing agreements on communications and logistics cooperation that still needed to be sealed.

In his newspaper commentary, Gates wrote that "we both have to reexamine policies dealing with exchanging technology" and US regulations particularly needed to be reformed.

India last year bought six Hercules transport aircraft from US aviation giant Lockheed Martin and Boeing said this month that India had expressed interest in a potential purchase of 10 C-17 transport planes.

The US defence firms also are keenly interested in a lucrative contract to build fighter jets for India, along with European, Russian, French and Swedish companies.

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