Original source: Morning Star (Britain)

Islamabad urged US President Barack Obama on Saturday to halt US missile strikes on its territory after civilians were killed in the first such attacks since his inauguration.

Remote-controlled US drones fired missiles into the village of Zharki in North Waziristan on Friday, killing 22.

Pakistani security officials said that eight 'suspected foreign militants' were among the dead.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir informed US ambassador Anne Patterson of Islamabad's 'great concern' over the civilian casualties.

CIA Predator drones have carried out 28 missile attacks in Pakistan since last summer, killing at least 132 people.

Pakistani officials said that as many as 100 of them were civilians.

Islamabad has repeatedly complained that stepped-up missile strikes – there have been more than 30 since August – boost popular support for anti-US guerillas and undermine the government's own efforts to counter Islamist fighters.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry released a statement on Saturday, which read: 'With the advent of the new US administration, it is Pakistan's sincere hope that the US will review its policy and adopt a more holistic and integrated approach toward dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism.

'We maintain that these attacks are counterproductive and should be discontinued,' it concluded.

Hours after the latest US attacks, Obama convened a meeting of his top national security advisers and endorsed the decision to continue missile strikes in Pakistan.

The New York Times, quoting unidentified official sources, reported that the first meeting of Mr Obama's national security council focused on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The NYT opined that the decision to press on with the attacks 'dispelled for the moment any notion that Obama would rein in the Predator attacks.'

And the Washington Post declared that the strikes 'offered the first tangible sign of President Obama's commitment to sustained military pressure on the terrorist groups' in Pakistan.

Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicated during her Senate confirmation hearing on Saturday that the new administration would step up pressure on Pakistan to intensify its pressure on Islamist militants.

In her written answers to legislators' questions, Clinton pledged that Washington would 'condition' future US military aid on Pakistan's efforts to close down terrorist training camps and evict foreign fighters.

Clinton also vowed to triple non-military aid to Pakistan.