WANA, May 8: US fighter planes on Monday fired three missiles on the Khwaja Khizar mountains near Angoor Adda in South Waziristan on Monday. According to official sources, three tribesmen were seriously injured. Eight people are reported missing.

Sources said the tribesmen were working on the mountains when the strike took place.

The source identified the wounded as Khwaja Khan, Ameer Khan and Ibrahim. They were taken to a hospital where their condition was stated to be critical.

One of the wounded men was quoted as saying that 11 people were excavating chromites from the mountains when the US planes attacked.

AP adds: Meanwhile, US military in Kabul said airstrikes on a cave complex near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan on Monday killed four Taliban militants and destroyed a truck loaded with rockets.

Military officials in Pakistan said helicopters fired missiles into the country’s territory, and officials started an investigation into whether US aircraft were involved.

But Lt-Col Paul Fitzpatrick, a US military spokesman, said the strike was one or two kilometres inside the Afghan border and that no missiles landed inside Pakistan.

A US military statement issued in Kabul said that coalition forces were in direct communication with Pakistani forces on the other side of the border during Monday’s operation.

A senior Pakistani military official, seeking anonymity, said two missiles landed close to Angoor Adda.

The official said three civilians were wounded and that eight people were unaccounted for.

Pakistan is investigating whether US forces are involved and will lodge a protest if a fact-finding team sent to the area uncovers information indicating American involvement, the official said.

Before the strike, a joint team of US ground forces and Afghan soldiers observed individuals loading a truck near the cave with rockets, the US military statement said.

A patrol sent to investigate after the strike was fired on by one militant, who was captured, the US military said.

Online adds: Pakistan military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan denied reports that US helicopters had violated Pakistani territory.

“There is no violation of Pakistani territory. However, three of the injured are being investigated who are in our custody,” the Inter-Service Public Relations director-general told a private television channel.

He insisted that the operation was being carried out within Afghanistan’s territory. However, he said, the three injured had come to a Pakistani post.

“I have no knowledge about the operation.”

“However, the injured came to Pakistani post who were providing with medical treatment,” he added