Al Qaeda road trips as dangerous as a 'safe house'

AFP:

A suspected US missile strike killed up to seven alleged Al-Qaeda militants on Wednesday in an extremist stronghold of northwest Pakistan on the Afghan border, security officials said.

At least one vehicle was targeted in the strike in the Makeen area of the semi-autonomous tribal district of South Waziristan, where suspected Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militants are also holed up, local officials said.

Initial reports said no high-value targets were believed to have died.

"A vehicle carrying six foreign militants was targeted in a single missile attack in Makeen area on the border between North and South Waziristan," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani officials use the word "foreigner" in reference to suspected Al-Qaeda fighters, but the precise identities of the dead was not confirmed.

"Two vehicles were hit in the strike, killing seven foreigners, including Uzbeks and Arabs," a tribal security official, Haq Nawaz, told AFP.

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Notice there is zero suggestions that innocent civilians were killed. While this was a moving target, it is typical of the attacks that have hit al Qaeda operatives and there has been recent polling suggesting that most Pakistanis in the area are glad to see them eliminated.