PESHAWAR, July 15: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed near Mirali in the North Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday, sources said.

An official source told Dawn on Thursday that the UAV flying along the Afghan border crashed near Mirali , about 80 kilometres east of Miramshah, the regional head quartres.

A UAV is an unmanned aircraft remotely piloted, and used to photograph or observe the ground below using television cameras. Some types of UAVs, like the Predator drone used by US forces, can also carry two Hellfire missiles.

The source said local tribesmen and the Khasaddar force were searching the area for wreckage. Director General Inter Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Shoukat Sultan when approached in Islamabad, said he had no knowledge about the crash. The identity of the country owning the UAV has yet to be ascertained.

Intense movement of various US aircraft has been witnessed in the tribal area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, after the war on terror was unleashed in Afghanistan.