Five militants killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan tribal belt

US drones struck a house and a vehicle in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region today, killing at least five militants.

The missile strikes were carried out at Mohammad Khel and Degan in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal agency that has witnessed numerous drone attacks in the past.

The house was destroyed when the missiles slammed into it.

Five militants were killed in the strikes, security officials were quoted as saying by TV news channels.

Reports said that the dead men were believed to be foreign militants.

Drones continued to hover over the region after the missile strikes.

This was only the second time that the CIA-operated spy planes have carried out attacks in Pakistan's tribal belt since November, when the drone campaign was halted in the wake of a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

A drone strike on January 10 in North Waziristan had killed Aslam Awan alias Abdullah Khurasani, a Pakistani national who played a key role in al-Qaeda.

That attack broke an undeclared eight-week hiatus in drone strikes.

Awan belonged to Abbottabad, the garrison town where al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces last year.