Agencies are reporting that a missile attack from a U.S. drone killed at least 4 in Pakistan on Tuesday. The attack marks the first time a drone strike has occurred since late November, when a drone attack killed over 20 Pakistani soldiers.

Yesterday's attack hit a home on the outskirts of the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan.

From an LA Times report:

“The bodies were completely burned beyond recognition,” said a local tribesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has been analyzing the data behind the covert drone war, shows that Obama's drone strikes now total 258.

Russia Today analyzes the strike further:

The resumption of the drone strikes falls in line with Obama's new military plan outlined last week. “This ‘slimmed down’ plan continues the trend to rely increasingly on fighting the two wars with technology (drones) and ‘precision’ strategic bombing," stated Beau Grosscup, professor of international relations at California State University in Chico.

And as Spencer Ackerman writes today:

The drone strikes are not a supplement to a war; they’re the centerpiece of how the Obama administration confronts terrorists. The White House’s plan for counterterrorism makes that clear, as does the Pentagon’s new strategy blueprint.

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