German militants reported killed in Pakistan

Missiles fired from a CIA-operated drone killed German militants hiding out in Pakistan’s volatile tribal belt along the Afghan border late Monday, the latest in a surge of drone strikes believed to be fueled in part by concerns that Al Qaeda was planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe.

There were conflicting reports on the number of German extremists. One Pakistani intelligence source said two of nine militants killed in the drone attack were German and the rest were from Central Asia. However, Reuters reported that as many as eight German militants were killed.

The drone fired two missiles into a compound in the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a desolate, mountainous region that has long served as a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Last month, the U.S. carried out 22 drone missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, most of them directed at the Afghan Taliban wing known as the Haqqani network in the North Waziristan region.

On Sunday, the State Department issued a travel alert for American citizens in Europe, warning that U.S. and European intelligence indicated the potential for a large-scale Al Qaeda attack. Intelligence officials in the U.S. and Europe have said a small cell of militants in North Waziristan may be readying an attack on par with the 2008 assault on Mumbai, India, that killed 166 people.

Information about a potential attack came after the arrest and questioning of a German man of Pakistani descent who was being held at the U.S. air base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

According to U.S. and European intelligence sources, the man provided details about the activities of half a dozen men from Germany and England who were linked through Al Qaeda and were reportedly talking to other operatives in several European cities about upcoming strikes.

alex.rodriguez@latimes.com

Rodriguez reported from Islamabad, and special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali reported from Peshawar.