An American missile strike killed a ranking member of themilitant Haqqani network on Thursday in northwestern Pakistan, striking a groupthat Washington claims is the No. 1 threat in Afghanistan and is supported byPakistani security forces, local intelligence officials said.The strike came as U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan andPakistan Marc Grossman arrived in Pakistan to improve ties between Washingtonand Islamabad that have been severely strained by stepped-up American claims ofPakistan assistance to the Haqqanis.
Two other militants were killed in the attack close in theHaqqani stronghold of North Waziristan, the group's main sanctuary along theAfghan border, said the Pakistani officials in the region. The officials spokeon condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to themedia.
They identified the Haqqani member as Jalil and said he wasa "coordinator" for the group. The men were walking down a streetwhen the drone-fired missile hit, the officials said. One said Jalil wasrelated to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the network.
The missiles hit close to Dande Darpa Khel village, which ishome to a large seminary with links to the Haqqanis.
Later Thursday, a second volley of drone-fired missiles hita militant position on the hills close to the frontier in South Waziristan,killing three people, intelligence officials said.
The officials said the militants were firing rockets andmortars across the border at an American base in Machadad Kot in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials do not talk about the CIA-led drone program.NATO and U.S. officers in Afghanistan were not immediately available forcomment.
The al-Qaida-allied Haqqani network is one of most organizedinsurgent factions fighting the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, and it has beenblamed for high-profile assaults against Western and Afghan targets in theAfghan capital, Kabul.
Washington has long urged Islamabad to attack the fighters,who live undisturbed in North Waziristan despite the region being home toseveral thousand Pakistani troops. At the same time, the U.S. is pursuing thepossibility of peace talks with the Haqqanis and other Taliban factions,reflecting the fact that the insurgency can't be defeated militarily.
In brief remarks to reporters, Grossman, whose mission is topromote the peace process, talked about his confidence that the U.S. andPakistan can "can make a commitment to future work" together,suggesting work still needs to be done to restore the relationship.
Last month, senior American officials accused Pakistan's spyagency of assisting the Haqqani network in attacks on Western targets inAfghanistan, including a strike last month on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.Pakistani officials have denied the charges.
They were the most serious allegations yet of Pakistaniduplicity in the 10-year war in Afghanistan and sent already strained tiesbetween Islamabad and Washington plunging further. Obama administrationofficials have since backtracked somewhat on the claims.
Most independent analysts say Pakistan is either toleratingor supporting the Haqqani network to some degree because it foresees chaos inAfghanistan once America withdraws, and wants to cultivate the group as an allythere against the influence of India, its regional enemy.
Since 2008, the United States has regularly unleashedunmanned drone-fired missiles against militants in the border region, which ishome to Pakistani militants, Afghan factions like the Haqqanis and al-Qaidaoperatives from around the world, especially the Middle East.
This year, there have been around 50 drone strikes, most ofthem in North Waziristan. Pakistani officials protest the strikes, which areunpopular among many Pakistanis, but the country is believed to support them privatelyand makes no diplomatic or military efforts to stop them.
U.S. leverage against Pakistan to get it to fight theHaqqani group is limited because it relies on the country to truck much of itswar supplies into Afghanistan. The supplies of non-lethal material arrive inPakistan's port of Karachi by sea before traveling into Afghanistan by land.
The convoys are occasionally attacked by insurgents,especiallty close to the border, where the militants are strongest.
On Thursday, gunmen opened fire and set ablaze five tankerscarrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Sindh province, some 1,200 miles(2,000 kilometers) from the border, said police officer Khair Mohammad Samejho.The tankers were parked outside a restaurant in Shikarpur district when theywere attacked, he said.