US drone strike kills four militants: officials

US missile attack targets vehicle in Ghulam Khan town of North Waziristan, say local officials.

MIRANSHAH: A US missile attack killed at least four militants when it targeted a vehicle in a tribal district of North Waziristan on Friday, local officials said.

Two missiles fired by a US drone hit the vehicle in Ghulam Khan town, some 15 kilometres northwest of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district close to the Afghan border, officials said.

"It was an American drone attack. Four militants have been killed -- the death toll may rise," a security official in Miranshah told AFP. Another security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and the death toll.

Security officials in Miranshah and Peshawar said that militants killed in the strike were associated with the powerful, al Qaeda-linked, Haqqani network, but that they were still seeking more information.

Officials said militants were moving from one area to another when their vehicle was struck by the unmanned US aircraft. Militants frequently relocate in an effort to avoid the intensifying campaign of drone attacks.

The US has doubled missile strikes in the tribal belt this year, most of which have been in North Waziristan, along with a recent expansion of drone strikes in to the Khyber region.