Eight dead in suspected U.S. missile strike in Pakistan

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a northwestern Pakistani militant stronghold on Friday, killing eight people, the second such attack this week, security and Taliban officials said.

The United States has carried out more than 40 attacks with its pilotless, missile-firing aircraft in northwest Pakistan this year as its forces in neighboring Afghanistan have faced an intensifying Taliban insurgency.

The attack was near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border and a major sanctuary for al Qaeda and the Taliban.

"Eight people have been killed," an intelligence official in the region said.

A Taliban official confirmed the target had apparently been a vehicle.

"Our men are going to the site of the strike. We don't have details right now," said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.

North Waziristan is a stronghold of Taliban militants and their al Qaeda allies.

Four militants were killed in a similar strike on Wednesday night in the same region.

The Pakistani army has been battling militants in the neighboring South Waziristan region since last month.