US drone reportedly kills three in Pakistan

Two missiles fired from a U.S. drone hit a compound in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, killing at least three suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said Tuesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said the strike took place Monday night in Shawal village, in the North Waziristan region.

They said the identity of those killed was not yet known.

The deep, forested ravines of Shawal Valley are dotted with Taliban bases and are a key smuggling route into Afghanistan. The valley runs across South and North Waziristan, most of which is under the control of the Pakistani military.

Pakistan has been waging a large military operation in North Waziristan against local and foreign fighters since June 2014. The military says it has killed more than 1,200 combatants and cleared most of the region.

However, fighters and intelligence sources say the Shawal Valley remains largely untouched by the operation.

Last week, residents and military sources said Pakistani forces were moving toward the valley from north and south. But the scale and progress of the operation is unclear.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry condemned Monday's strike, saying it violated the country's territorial sovereignty and international law. “These events also generate distrust among the local populace. We reiterate our call for cessation of such strikes,” it said in a statement.

The U.S. government’s drone program has been criticized by rights organizations for its killing of civilians. A Pakistani judge in April ordered criminal charges to be filed against a former CIA lawyer who oversaw the agency’s drone program and a former station chief in Islamabad over a 2009 strike that killed two people.

Wire services