KABUL - The US President Barack Obama confirmed that US drones have struck Taliban and Al-Qaeda targets within Pakistan -- operations that until now had not been officially acknowledged, reports said.
"For the most part, they've been very precise precision strikes against al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we're very careful in terms of how it's been applied," Obama said.
"This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on," he added.

The US President's comments come as relationship between Pakistan and the US deteriorated after Osama Bin Laden was gunned down in an operation carried out by US Special forces on May 2 this year in Abbottabad near Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The killing raised questions over Pakistan's involvement in hiding out the al-Qaeda leader.
After this the relations between Pakistan and the US government hadn't got better that a NATO air strike on two Pakistani checkpoints near Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Nov 2011, made the relations even more tense.

Pakistan, after the incident, blocked the NATO supply route which passes from Kheyber Pakhtunkhawa and asked US officials to vacate Shamsi airbase which was used for US drone operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US resumed drone operations on January 10.
On 23 January in a US drone attack two missiles hit a vehicle in the village of Degan, and another two struck a house in nearby Mohammedkhel village, killed four insurgents.

This was the second US drone strike after November incident.
US officials recently said that eight of al-Qaeda's top 20 leaders were eliminated in the past year, mostly in US drone strikes.