Suspected U.S. Strike Kills 2 In Pakistan

A suspected U.S. missile strike killed two people in Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials and a witness said Tuesday, as two prominent U.S. senators visited Islamabad amid flaring tensions over the Mumbai attacks in India.

The Monday night strike in Tabi Tolkhel village in the North Waziristan tribal region appeared to be the latest in a surge of alleged U.S. missile attacks on militant targets in Pakistan's northwest, a border region long bedeviled by al Qaeda and Taliban extremists.

It also was the latest example of how militancy and the fight against it is engulfing this nuclear-armed Muslim nation from all sides.

Pakistan routinely protests the missile strikes as violations of its sovereignty, reported CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Writing for the World Watch blog, MacVicar said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has labeled Pakistan a key front in the war on Islamic extremism. He called for more overt action from Pakistan's leaders during a recent visit to Islamabad.

According to Britain's domestic intelligence service, three-quarters of the serious terror plots they're monitoring have Pakistani links, MacVicar reported.

India blames a Pakistan-based militant group for the attacks in Mumbai that killed more 160 people, and the U.S. has joined in the international chorus demanding that Pakistan crack down on violent extremists in its territory. The missile strikes have long indicated U.S. impatience with Pakistani efforts.

But U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the next Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said that Pakistan appears "sincere" in response to the Mumbai attacks.Kerry was in Pakistan on Tuesday, the latest in a string of U.S. officials to visit India and Pakistan since the attacks in India's commercial capital last month. But Kerry added that generous American assistance to Pakistan depends on it capping past support for extremist groups.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond also arrived in Islamabad on Monday for meetings with top Pakistanis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. He declined to give more details.

India is suspicious of Pakistan's avowed clampdown on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group New Delhi blames for last month's attack, which killed more than 160 people and raised concern that the nuclear-armed neighbors could slide into their fourth war.

Pakistani authorities have raided suspected militant training camps and confirmed the detention of three key suspects, including two alleged plotters of the attacks and the purported head of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Kerry said he had learned during two days of talks with Pakistani government and military leaders that authorities had taken more action than had been announced.

"I know that more people have been detained than India is aware of," Kerry told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday.

He didn't name any of the additional detainees, but said Pakistani authorities were actively "building the case" against those seized so that they can be prosecuted.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of a host of violent extremist groups that emerged after the U.S.-funded guerrilla war against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan in the 1980s and opened a new holy war against Indian troops in Kashmir.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf banned it and several other extremist groups in 2002 under U.S. pressure after an attack on the parliament in New Delhi.

However, the group's operations have continued, fueling the suspicions of India and many Western observers that it still enjoyed covert support from Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Pakistani leaders complain that Indian investigators are not sharing evidence from Mumbai, raising concern that, as after the 2001 parliament attack, detained militant leaders will eventually be released without charge.

However, Kerry expressed optimism that Pakistan's leaders realized that Lashkar-e-Taiba had "morphed into a more al Qaeda-esque and radicalized entity" that had run out of control and represented a serious threat to Pakistan.

More than 30 alleged U.S. missile strikes have been reported since August in Pakistan's northwest. The latest suspected U.S. strike, on Monday night, set a house on fire, said Ajab Khan, a village resident who went to the scene.

He said he saw two bodies brought out, and that three wounded people were taken away in a vehicle. Suspected Taliban militants surrounded the house afterward, Khan said - a common occurrence after such strikes.

Three local intelligence officials confirmed the account, citing informants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

U.S. officials rarely acknowledge or comment on the individual missile strikes, many of which are said to originate from CIA-run unmanned drones.

However, American leaders have previously said the strikes have helped kill some important militant leaders who use Pakistani territory as safe havens from which to plot attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.