US drone kills five Taliban Commanders

---

PESHAWAR, Oct 27 (Reuters): A US drone strike Thursday killed five commanders of a powerful Pakistani Taliban faction which attacks Western forces in Afghanistan, one of the group's leaders told Reuters. The Obama administration has stepped up drone strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal border areas in an effort to stabilise Afghanistan before the end of 2014, when all NATO combat troops are due home. The dead commanders belonged to the Maulvi Nazir faction of Pakistan's Taliban, which carries out cross-border attacks from its strongholds in South Waziristan. The group threatened in June to escalate attacks on US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan in response to intensified drone strikes on its territory. Four of the commanders killed by the remotely-piloted drone were identified as Hazrat Omar, Nazir's younger brother, Khan Mohammad, Miraj Wazir and Ashfaq Wazir. The group did not name the fifth.