US drone strike kills 20 in North Waziristan

A US drone aircraft fired missiles at a militant hideout in North Waziristan on Monday, killing 20 people, including 13 militants and seven civilians.

The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area, about five kilometres (three miles) from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district.

A senior security official in Peshawar told AFP that the US drone had fired three missiles, hitting a house used by militants. An intelligence official in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the toll.

Officials said they were trying to confirm reports that seven civilians were among the dead, as the strike badly damaged nearby houses.

"We have reports of civilian casualties, there are also reports that four women and three children were among the dead but we are trying to confirm it," one official said.

The missile attack also injured 13 people including women and children, another intelligence official in Miranshah earlier told AFP.

The Monday attack was the second in three days, following a similar strike in North Waziristan on Saturday which killed four militants, the official said.

Monday's strike targeted a compound used by militants in Kutabkhel village, some three kilometres south of Miranshah. The nationalities of the militants killed in the Monday attack were not immediately clear, but intelligence officials in the area said most of them were Afghans.

Residents in Miranshah said militants linked to the Haqqani network were using the house as a training camp.