U.S. drone kills top Pakistani militant

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A prominent Pakistani militant commander was killed in a U.S. drone strike at a house in Pakistan’s lawless northwest tribal region of North Waziristan on Thursday, a senior security official said.

The militant, Badar Mansoor, who led his own group of fighters, was affiliated with Tehrik-i-taliban Pakistan — an umbrella organization representing the many shades of Pakistani militants — and al-qaida, the official said.

“He was one of the main militant commanders out there,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Mansoor, said to be in his late 20s, was among five people killed after two missiles struck the house in Miram Shah, the capital of the North Waziristan tribal agency.

The strike comes as fraught relations between Pakistan and the United States, which have been virtually frozen since U.S. warplanes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in a disputed border attack in November, have been slowly warming. Mansoor has been accused of attacks that have killed dozens of Pakistanis, and by mid-evening Pakistani officials had not spoken out against the strike.

A local resident said he was woken by two loud explosions around 4 a.m. Thursday. Militants rushed to the site immediately after the attack to clear the rubble and retrieve the bodies, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was only the second drone strike in Miram Shah since the campaign started in 2004.