MIRAMSHAH, Feb 8: Ten suspected militants were killed when a US drone fired missiles at a compound near Miramshah in North Waziristan Agency early on Wednesday, sources said. The attack was carried out in Spelga area, some 12km southeast of Miramshah. Two missiles slammed into the compound belonging to the Badar Mansoor group, an outfit operating under the Panjabi Taliban.

The sources said that missiles were fired when militants were offering prayer. Nine bodies were recovered from the compound and a wounded person also died later.

The house caught fire after the attack.

Reuters adds: The unacknowledged CIA drone programme, a key element in US counter-terrorism efforts, was apparently halted after a November Nato air attack from across the Afghan border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers enraged Pakistan.

The United States resumed drone attacks on Jan 10.

“Almost all the men were burnt beyond recognition,” a villager said after visiting the destroyed house.

Security officials and villagers said the dead included foreign fighters but they did not specify their nationalities.

A tribal elder said militants usually avoided gathering, limiting groups to three or four people to minimise losses in the event of a drone attack. But they had dropped their guard recently.

“It has been freezing cold in the last few days and then there were no drones for some time. That’s why the militants started living together and suffered heavy losses,” the elder, who declined to be identified, said.