Missile fired at house in NW Pakistan: residents

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least one missile was fired at a house next to a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, almost completely destroying the building but killing no one, a resident of the area said.

Security officials said they had no information about any blasts in a village in the North Waziristan region, a militant hotbed on the Afghan border.

“There was a big explosion and we heard a drone flying in the sky,” Noor Mohammad, a resident of the village, Sapalga, said of the attack which happened about half an hour after midnight.

“It was a missile attack and it destroyed the building almost completely but there were no casualties.”

Other residents said two missiles had been fired, adding they had no information about casualties.

This year, U.S.-controlled Predator aircraft have struck at least four sites used by al Qaeda operatives in northwest Pakistan, killing dozens of suspected militants.

The most recent missile strike was in the Bajaur region, to the northeast of Waziristan, on May 14.

Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.

Pakistan’s new government has begun negotiations with the aim of getting militants to end a wave of attacks that have killed hundreds of people in Pakistan since the middle of last year.