KHAR: A US drone attack on a militant hideout in Damadola in Bajaur killed 24 people, three foreigners among them, on Saturday.

Officials said 12 people were wounded in the attack on an underground hideout in Chohetra, 14km north of regional headquarters Khar. ‘I heard two loud explosions when a meeting of the Taliban was in progress,’ a local resident Hazrat Gul said.

According to an official of the political administration, two relatives of the militant ‘commander’ in Bajaur, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, were among the dead.

Sources said Maulvi Faqir had left the meeting only a few minutes before the attack.

Assistant Political Agent Mohammad Jamil said the pilotless plane fired at least two missiles at the hideout.