*Six killed, 11 injured in US drone strike on Wednesday
*Earlier attacks kill key militant commander and six militants besides targeting a suspected militant training camp in Shawal
At least 23 people were killed and several others injured in three US drone strikes over the past three days in North Waziristan Agency (NWA).
In the latest attack on Wednesday, six people were killed and 11 injured when a US drone fired two missiles on militant commander Mustaqeem’s center in Kandghar area of Shawal. According to sources, the drone targeted the compound where a large number of suspected militants were present to attend a meeting.
Earlier, US drones hit a gathering of militants and a suspected training camp in NWA in two separate attacks on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, security officials said.
Attacks by US drones have intensified in recent months after a pause in the first half of this year.
Tuesday’s attacks mark the third and fourth drone strike in three days.
In the first attack, three missiles from the unmanned aircraft hit a suspected training camp in Shawal area just after midday in which six suspected militants were reported killed and nine injured.
In the second attack, missiles hit a gathering of militants on a mountain in Dattakhel region in NWA, killing two people and wounding at least four on Tuesday evening, sources said.
Earlier on Monday, a US drone fired two missiles on a house in Kandghar area of Shawal district, killing at least five people, including a key militant commander and injuring three others.
Sixteen people were killed in a drone strike on Dargah Mandi area on June 11. Another six were killed in the same area on June 18. On July 10, six people were killed in a US drone strike in Dattakhel area while 22 people were killed in the same area on July 16 and 19.
Six people were killed in drone attack on August 6 in Dattakhel area and 10 people were killed in the attack in Lorhan Mandi area on September 24.
US drone strikes are widely unpopular in Pakistan, where many consider them a violation of national sovereignty and also because civilians are killed in the strikes.
Washington has long asserted that it used the drone strikes in a bid to eliminate militants from the areas.
The US halted drone strikes in Pakistan for the first six months of 2014 while the government engaged in ultimately fruitless peace talks with the TTP militants.
But the strikes restarted on June 11, just four days before the Pak Army announced an anti-Taliban offensive in NWA.
Many of the militants who fled the offensive are believed to be hiding in the Shawal valley.
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