ISLAMABAD — Two suspected U.S. drone strikes killed at least five militants in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region where the military has been fighting insurgents since June, Pakistani intelligence officials said Thursday.

Hours later, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a rare visit to North Waziristan announced that Pakistan was “winning the war against terrorism” in the troubled area.

The visit was a show of strength for the Pakistani leader who faces weeks-long street protests in the capital, Islamabad, where opposition leaders are demanding his resignation over alleged vote fraud last year.

The latest drone strikes came just hours apart. In the first strike, two drone-fired missiles hit a moving vehicle in the village of Datta Khel in North Waziristan late on Wednesday night, killing at least two militants, the official said.