US drone 'kills five in Pakistan'

A suspected missile fired by a US drone has killed at least five people in Pakistan, officials say.

The missile hit a house in Janikhel, in Bannu district in North West Frontier Province, near the Afghan border late Sunday night.

Correspondents say this is the sixth drone attack on Pakistani territory since Barack Obama became US president.

Pakistan is critical of the tactic because, it says, civilians are often killed, fuelling support for militants.

Meanwhile, an attack on a terminal on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar has destroyed supplies bound for Nato troops in Afghanistan.

Criticised

Local tribesmen in Janikhel said the house destroyed in the missile attack was frequented by the Taleban and foreign militants.

All the killed men were militants and they included two Arabs, they said.

Local administration officials confirmed the missile attack but they said the identity of the dead could not be confirmed at the moment.

This is the second attack in the region in the last five days.

Twenty-five people were killed in a missile strike on a Taleban compound in the tribal region of Kurrum on 12 March.

The attacks are believed to have been carried out by US drones, although this has never been formally acknowledged by the US authorities.

Pakistan's government has strongly criticised the attacks which have led to an increase in anti-Americanism in the country.

Meanwhile, an attack on a terminal on the outskirts of Peshawar has destroyed supplies bound for Nato troops in Afghanistan.

The attack took place at 3am local time (2200GMT) on Monday when militants used rockets to attack trucks parked at the terminal.

At least eight trucks were destroyed and several others damaged as a blaze engulfed the terminal after the attack.

A policeman told the BBC that all the supplies loaded on the trucks had been destroyed.

This is the second suck attack on Nato convoys leaving Peshawar in recent weeks.

The road from Peshawar to Afghanistan is a major supply route for US and Western forces battling the Taleban.