US missile attack kills 12 militants

TWO suspected American missile strikes killed 12 alleged Islamist militants in a north-western Pakistan tribal region yesterday.

The attacks were taken as a sign that the US is unwilling to stop using the unpopular tactic despite heightened tensions between the two countries over recent border incursions by Nato.

The Pakistani Taleban, meanwhile, said it attacked Nato oil tankers in Pakistan's south in revenge for the killing of three Pakistani border guards by Nato helicopters.

In apparent retaliation for the killings, Pakistan has cut off a key US and Nato supply line on its soil.

A surge in reported United States drone missile strikes in Pakistan along with Nato operations along the border suggest western forces are cracking down on insurgents who easily move across the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan - something the Islamabad government has been slow to do.Pakistan's willingness to block the supply line amid public outrage, however, shows the leverage it has over the US and Nato.