MIRAMSHAH, Nov 3: Three suspected militants were killed and two others injured when four missiles fired by a US drone slammed into a residential compound in the Darpakhel Serai area of Miramshah in North Waziristan Agency on Thursday.

Local people said that six unmanned aircraft hovered over the area at the time of the attack. At around 3pm, one of the drones fired two missiles into a house but it missed the target. Later, two more missiles were fired that hit the house, destroying it completely.

The sources said that three people, among them a member of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, were killed and two others wounded. The killed TTP member is said to be from the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan.

AFP adds: “A drone fired two missiles on a militant compound. At least three militants were killed,” a senior Pakistani security said.

He said those killed were loyal to Jamil Haqqani, an important Afghan commander in the Haqqani network whom US officials said was killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan on Oct 13.

A US official at the time named him as Janbaz Zadran, saying he “played a central role in helping the Haqqani network attack US and coalition targets in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan”.

Other intelligence officials in Miramshah and Peshawar confirmed Thursday’s missile strike and casualties.

Three wounded militants were pulled out of the rubble and taken to hospital, witnesses said. One of them was carried out on a cot by seven to eight militants enveloped in dust.