Report: Airstrikes in Pakistan precise

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Officials said airstrikes against terrorist suspects in Pakistan's tribal region have become more precise, reducing strained U.S.-Pakistan relations.

The more accurate airstrikes in the region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border resulted in the confirmed deaths of eight senior al-Qaida leaders and reduced the number of civilian deaths, which had caused tensions between the two countries, The Washington Times reported Friday.

Among those killed was man behind a 2006 plot to detonate liquid explosives aboard planes flying across the Atlantic and the man believed to have planned the September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, in which 53 people died.

"The strikes have become increasingly accurate," a Pakistani official who works closely with U.S. authorities told the Times.

The official said fighting between the foreign militants and members of Pakistani tribes in the border region was growing, resulting in increased isolation of Arab al-Qaida members.

Outgoing U.S. CIA Director Michael Hayden told reporters that al-Qaida is catching heat from Pakistani tribes and is stressed because of the loss of senior leaders, the Times said.

Pakistan's mountainous region, once considered safe haven for the terrorist group, now is neither "safe nor a haven," Hayden said.