U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - At least six people were killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal areas early Friday, according to government officials and local news reports. The strike was directed at a house in the Ghulam Khan area of the North Waziristan tribal region, close to the border with Afghanistan. A senior Haqqani network commander was killed, a security official said. The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the ranking Haqqani official in the region, Sangin Zadran, had been killed. "He was the most influential commander in the area," the official said. The Americans had been after him for a long time. North Waziristan has long been a haven for Taliban and Qaeda militants. American drone strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, and opposition to them has become an essential staple of local politics and grievances against the United States. Pakistani politicians and government officials condemn the missile strikes, which are directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, as a violation of the country's sovereignty. Opposition politicians like Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party, have campaigned against the strikes, saying that they result more in civilian casualties than militant killings. In October 2012, Mr. Khan led a big protest rally to the edges of the tribal regions against the use of drones on Pakistani soil. The number of drone strikes has, however, dropped sharply in recent months. The last strike occurred on Aug. 31, when at least four suspected militants were killed in an attack in North Waziristan. Secretary of State John Kerry hinted in a visit to Pakistan earlier in August that the drone strikes could end soon. "The program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it," Mr. Kerry said at the time in an interview broadcast on state-run television. I think the president has a very real time line, and we hope it's going to be very, very soon. The Friday strike came as Pakistan celebrated Defense Day, a day of remembrance for those killed in the 1965 war with neighboring India. As news of the strike spread, there was a flurry of critical reactions, especially on Twitter. Shireen Mazari, a lawmaker and information secretary of Mr. Khan's political party, remarked that the strike "reminds us of the changing nature of multiple threats" the country is facing. In a Twitter posting, Mr. Khan condemned the strike and said he planned to take it up with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a meeting of all political parties on Monday. Mr. Sharif has convened the much-awaited meeting in Islamabad of political leaders to devise a national strategy to deal with militancy and terrorism.