Islamabad, July 16 (IANS): At least 20 militants were killed Wednesday in a US drone attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan region.
Four missile strikes, coming from an unknown number of US unmanned aircraft, pounded a compound of suspected militants in Datta Khel area located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Xinhua reported.
The strikes levelled the targeted compound to the ground with officials initially putting the toll at 15.
The toll later surged to 20 when residents pulled five more bodies out of the rubble of the compound.
Acording to officials, the attack took place when a meeting of Taliban militants, including local and Uzbek insurgents, was going on in the compound.
Wednesday morning's attack is the fifth of its kind in the area this year.
On July 10, a US drone killed at least six people in North Waziristan.
The Pakistan government July 10 condemned the US drone strikes, saying these were counter-productive and unacceptable as they violated the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The attacks were also harming the military operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan aimed at eliminating terrorism.
The last drone strike June 18 killed at least eight militants.
On June 11, two successive drone strikes reportedly killed 16 people and injured a few others in Miranshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan Agency.