By Alamgir Bitani
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A pilotless U.S. drone aircraft fired a missile in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing 13 people including some foreign militants, security officials and residents said.
Hours later, Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for a shooting at a U.S. immigration center in New York in which a gunman killed 13 people, saying it was revenge for U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan.
U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment about Mehsud's claim, but Pakistani security analysts dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
The New York Times quoted representative Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes the town of Binghamton in New York state where the shooting took place, as saying indications were the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam.
With the Afghan insurgency intensifying, the United States began launching more drone strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Pakistani side of the border last year.
Since then, about 35 U.S. strikes have killed about 350 people, including mid-level al Qaeda members, according to reports from Pakistani officials, residents and militants.
The attack Saturday was in the North Waziristan region, a stronghold of al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border, about 35 km (20 miles) west of the region's main town of Miranshah at about 3 a.m. (5 p.m. EST on Friday).
"The missile hit a house where some guests were staying," one intelligence agency official said, referring to foreign militants. "We have information that 13 people were killed including some guests." Continued...
Map of Waziristan, PakistanA suspected United States drone missile attack in northwestern Pakistan has left 13 people dead, local security officials say.

The strike hit a town in the tribal area of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, an apparent stronghold of Al-Qaeda militants.

"Thirteen people were killed. Ten of them are militants and the identity of the other three — whether they are militants or civilians — is not yet confirmed," a local official told AFP, asking to remain anonymous. 

"The missile hit a house where some guests were staying. We have information that 13 people were killed including some guests," an intelligence official stated.

The apparent target was the home of Tariq Khan, a local Wazir tribesman, who has been described as a 'facilitator of the Taliban'.

Pakistan has repeatedly condemned the U.S. drone attacks. Just two days prior to this latest attack, foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told a press briefing that "they are violations of our sovereignty and secondly they are counterproductive. They are not helpful in our efforts to win hearts and minds. So we cannot accept drone attacks," he said.

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is scheduled to visit Pakistan next week and this issue will be discussed, according to Basit.

More than 35 suspected drone attacks have killed over 340 people since August last year.