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| 'Dozens dead' in US drone strike | 'Dozens dead' in US drone strike |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| At least 45 people have died in a missile strike by a US drone aircraft in Pakistan, officials there have said. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |