The US on Thursday stepped up its campaign targeting al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal region as missiles from CIA-operated drones killed eight suspected insurgents.

The latest attacks by American unmanned spy planes came a week after a drone strike killed Badar Mansoor, a top leader of al Qaeda in Pakistan who had earlier fought in Jammu and Kashmir.

A US drone targeted a car in North Waziristan tribal region today, killing two suspected militants hours after six suspected rebels died in another attack by an unmanned spy plane.

The drone fired two missiles at the car near Miranshah, the main town of the region.

This was the second drone attack in eight hours, local residents said.

In the earlier attack, a drone fired two missiles into a house in Spalgai area, 12-km from Miranshah.

Six suspected militants were killed and seven others were injured in the missile strike.

The house was destroyed, local residents said.

Members of the local Taliban faction were the target of the attack, they said.

At least 10 suspected militants were killed when a US drone targeted the Spalga area on February 9.

The area is dominated by the militant faction led by commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose fighters target foreign forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Following today’s strikes, there have been eight drone attacks this year.

The US resumed drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt in January after a two-month lull following a cross-border NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.