PESHAWAR: A US drone Saturday fired four missiles into a compound used by Islamist fighters in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt, killing at least 11 militants, security officials said.

The missiles targeted the compound in Dwasarak village, about 40 kilometres west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district, a senior Pakistani security official who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.

"Two US drones fired four missiles, 11 militants have been killed in this attack," he said.

Two intelligence officials, one in Wana and one based in Peshawar, also confirmed the attack.

South Waziristan, considered a militant stronghold, was the scene of a major Pakistani offensive last year.

Dwasarak is close to the Afghan border in Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan. Officials said militants belonging to local commander Maulana Halimullah were killed in the attack, the second time that US drones have targeted his men.

On June 29, a compound in Karikot village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of Wana, belonging to Halimullah was destroyed in a drone attack which killed six militants.

More recently, at least 10 militants were killed in a drone strike on July 15 in neighbouring North Waziristan district.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area on the Afghan border a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in more than 100 drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, including a number of senior militants. However the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country.

The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.

Militants based in the rugged tribal terrain attack US-led forces across the border in Afghanistan, where the Afghan Taliban are waging a nearly nine-year insurgency to evict the estimated 140,000 foreign troops.

On June 1, Al-Qaeda said its number three leader and Osama bin Laden`s one-time treasurer Mustafa Abu al-Yazid had been killed in what security officials said was an apparent drone strike in North Waziristan.

Waziristan came under renewed scrutiny when Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American charged over an attempted bombing in New York on May 1, allegedly told US interrogators he went there for bomb training.

The United States has been increasing pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamist havens along the Afghan border.

Pakistani commanders have not ruled out an offensive in North Waziristan, but argue that gains in South Waziristan and the northwestern district of Swat need to be consolidated to prevent their troops from being stretched too thin.


BDST: 1155 HRS, July 24, 2010