US drone strike kills eleven in northwest Pakistan

MIRANSHAH: A US drone strike targeting a Pakistani Taliban compound on Saturday killed eleven insurgents in the country´s restive northwestern tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, officials said.

The attack came in North Waziristan, where for the past month the Pakistani military has been fighting to wipe out longstanding bases of Taliban and other militants.

"The drone fired eight missiles on the compound around 2:00am (2100 GMT) on Saturday killing eleven members of the Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban," a senior security official in the region told AFP.

The official said the dead included two "important" commanders of the Pakistani Taliban, but he refused to reveal their identities.

An official had earlier given a lower death toll of eight militants dead.The strike took place in the Mada Khel suburb of Data Khel, a town that lies around 22 miles (36 kilometres) west of North Waziristan´s capital Miranshah.