Drone rockets kill at least 45 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 9 (UPI) -- Missiles fired from a drone targeting militants in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region killed at least 45 people, officials said.

The attacks Wednesday were in an area near the border with Afghanistan where Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is believed to be holed up, the Voice of America reported.

A similar attack Tuesday in the same area killed 14 extremists, VOA said.

The Pakistani military is now concentrating its campaign in South Waziristan in its hunt for Mehsud.

Tribal witnesses and local officials told VOA the first strike at dawn Wednesday hit a Taliban training camp. The second occurred a few hours later, with several missiles fired hitting a large group of Taliban fighters traveling in another part of the border region.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit repeated his country's objection to missile attacks, the U.S. network said.

"We do consider them as violation of our sovereignty and we believe that these are not helpful in our long term strategy to fight against terrorism," Basit said. "We are allies in this fight against terrorism so we would like to resolve and bridge our differences, and bridge our gaps in our positions through a continuous discussion process."