Pakistan officially objects to the strikes by pilotless US aircraft
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At least 45 people have died in a missile strike by a US drone aircraft in Pakistan, officials there have said.
The people killed in South Waziristan region had been attending a funeral for others killed in a US drone strike earlier on Tuesday.
Intelligence officials said at least 45 people had been killed and dozens more injured in the later strike, when two missiles were fired.
But a local official told BBC News the death toll was more than 50.
The region is a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Also on Tuesday, tribal leader Qari Zainuddin, who often criticised Mehsud, was shot dead by a gunman in north-western Pakistan.
Earlier this month, Zainuddin criticised Mehsud after an attack on a mosque, which killed 33 people.
The Pakistani army is preparing to launch an offensive against Taliban fighters under Mehsud’s command, who are blamed for a number of deadly attacks.
But Zainuddin’s killing is being seen as a setback for the government in its efforts to isolate Mehsud ahead of the security forces’ next phase of their anti-Taliban offensive in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, says the BBC’s Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad.
The initial strike on the compound only killed one person, according to residents. The bulk of the toll came when locals rushed to the scene to help rescue the wounded trapped under the rubble, and the drone fired more missiles on them. It is unclear how many of the slain were civilians, but given the nature of the secondary strike it seems likely to be significant.
Peace and Justice Post 