Strike Kills at Least 9 in Pakistan Militant Stronghold

Explosions reportedly caused by missiles fired from drone aircraft hit a house and seminary linked to a key Taliban commander in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least nine people, officials and witnesses said. The blasts took place in a militant stronghold in Pakistan's wild tribal belt, a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

An intelligence official said the dead included three suspected foreign militants and two children. The attack appeared to be part of a stepped-up US campaign against militant havens in Pakistan's tribal areas. The targets were linked to Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the 1980s jihad against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, whom American commanders consider among their most dangerous foes. (More Pakistan stories.)