Four killed in drone attack in North Waziristan

MIRANSHAH: A US missile hit a house and a religious school in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border Monday killing at least four people and wounding six others, security officials said.

'The strike targetted a madrassa and an adjoining house in Machikhel village in North Waziristan,' a Pakistani security official told AFP.

'At least four people were killed and six others injured,' the official said. Two other security officials in the area also confirmed that the missile was fired from a US drone. The identities of the victims were not immediately clear.

A local administration official said that the local tribesmen had cordoned off the destroyed house and madrassa and were searching for bodies.

Washington alleges Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion are holed up in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.

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 drones in the region.

Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack on August 5 in neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.