US strike in Pakistan kills 'up to 60 militants'

Up to 50 suspected militants were killed in a second US missile strike Wednesday in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt making the death toll in two strikes to 60, officials said. The attack, carried out by a suspected unmanned US aircraft, targeted five vehicles carrying militants in a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. The death toll has risen to 50 and five vehicles were also destroyed -- targeted by a US drone in Janata area of South Waziristan, one security official told. Another Pakistani security official and a tribesman from the area confirmed the same casualty statistic. A third, senior-ranking official put the death toll at between 30 and 40. The area is remote and out of direct Pakistani government control, making all casualty reports from attacks difficult to verify.