A US missile strike and clashes between extremist gunmen and tribesmen killed at least 20 militants on Tuesday in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said.The drone attack destroyed a mountain hideout in the district of North Waziristan, killing 10 militants including Al-Qaeda-linked suspects.
North Waziristan is known as a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters and increasingly targeted by the covert US drone war since a suicide attack killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan.
The missiles hit a compound used by militants near Datta Khel village, 20 kilometers west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, Pakistani security officials said.
The exact identity of the militants was unclear and it was not immediately known whether there were any high-value targets.
"At least 10 militants, mostly foreigners, were killed," one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adopting a term used widely in Pakistan to refer to Al-Qaeda-linked suspects.
"Five missiles were fired by US drones," he added.
Three other security officials confirmed the missile strike and gave the same death toll, while a local intelligence official described the target as a mountain hideout for militants. Arabs were said to be among the dead.
Militants cordoned off the area and were searching the rubble, where two cars were also destroyed in the strike, a local administration official said.
US drone attacks routinely target Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, which Washington calls the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous region on Earth.
The drone war has killed a number of high-profile targets, including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and possibly his successor Hakimullah Mehsud, but the raids fuel anti-American sentiment in Muslim Pakistan.