DHAKA: A United States drone strike killed 11 Pakistani Taliban militants in northeastern Afghanistan, including six or seven senior commanders, intelligence officials said on Wednesday, hours after a strike killed at least nine militants in the same area.

The drone attack, late on Tuesday, was in Kunar province, near the site of fierce fighting on the Pakistani side of the border.

Fighter jets have been pounding positions in the Tirah Valley in Pakistan's Khyber region and the military says it has killed scores of militants. At least seven soldiers have also been killed.

Earlier on Tuesday, a drone strike killed nine militants in the Nazyan area of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, to the south of Kunar.

The intelligence officials said the nine belonged to the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam, which announced an alliance with the Taliban earlier this month, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1229 HRS, MAR 25, 2015