Suspected U.S. missile strike kills 2 in northwest Pakistan

The Monday night strike in Tabi Tolkhel village, in the North Waziristan tribal region, appeared to be the latest in a surge of alleged U.S. missile attacks on militant targets in Pakistan's northwest border region, long bedeviled by al-Qaida and Taliban extremists. More than 30 have been reported since August.

It also was the latest example of how militancy and the fight against it is engulfing this nuclear-armed Muslim nation from all sides.

India blames a Pakistan-based militant group for the attacks in Mumbai that killed more 160 people, and the U.S. has joined in the international chorus demanding that Pakistan crack down on violent extremists in its territory. The missile strikes have long indicated U.S. impatience with Pakistani efforts.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the next Foreign Relations Committee chairman, was in Pakistan on Tuesday. A number of U.S. officials have visited India and Pakistan since the attacks in India's commercial capital last month.

Like Kerry, Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond also arrived Monday for meetings with top Pakistanis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said without eleborating.

The latest suspected U.S. strike set a house on fire, said Ajab Khan, a village resident who went to the scene.

He said he saw two bodies brought out and three wounded people taken away in a vehicle. Suspected Taliban militants surrounded the house, Khan said - a common occurrence after such strikes.

Three local intelligence officials confirmed the account, citing informants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Pakistan routinely protests the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, saying they inflame anti-American sentiment. U.S. officials rarely acknowledge or comment on individual strikes, many of which are said to originate from CIA-run unmanned drones.

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