US president
Barack Obama orders air strike on Pakistan, where in U.S. missiles killed 18 people on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border.
Security officials said, the first attacks on the al-Qaida stronghold since President Barack Obama took office. At least five foreign militants were among those killed in the strikes by unmanned aircraft in two parts of the frontier region, an intelligence official said without naming them. There was no information on the identities of the others.
Pakistan's leaders had expressed hope Obama might halt the strikes, but few observers expected he would end a tactic that U.S. officials say has killed several top al-Qaida operatives and is denying the terrorist network a long-held safe haven.
The United States has staged more than 30 missile strikes inside Pakistan since August last year a barrage seen as a sign of frustration in Washington over Islamabad's efforts to curb militants that the U.S. blames for violence in Afghanistan and fears could be planning attacks on the West.
Pakistan publicly protests the strikes in the northwest as violations of its sovereignty that often kill civilians and undermine its own campaign against terrorists that have also launched bloody attacks on domestic targets.
But many observers believe the government secretly agrees with the tactic and may provide intelligence on the targets, noting that Islamabad's admitting to assisting the attacks would be politically damaging.
The first attack took place in the village of Zharki in North Waziristan, when a single drone fired three missiles in the space of 10 minutes, the security officials said.
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