MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) — Twelve suspected militants were killed by a missile strike in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt, hours after gunmen held 300 children hostage at a nearby school, officials said Tuesday.
Separately a Pakistani soldier died and five others were injured in the latest clashes between security forces and Islamist insurgents in the lawless borderlands with Afghanistan, the army said.
The missile hit a house late Monday in the North Waziristan tribal district, where thousands of Pakistani troops are battling Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked fighters.
Residents said the missile was fired by an unmanned drone aircraft, of a type often used by US forces in Afghanistan, that circled over the area before the attack.
"A missile came from an unknown direction on Monday night and hit the house, after which 12 people died," a local administration official told AFP.
Intelligence officials said the dead were pro-Taliban militants, but residents said they were tribesmen staying at the house of a local elder in Khushali Tari Khel, a village on the outskirts of the town of Mir Ali.
The Pakistani army was not immediately available for comment.
"The identities of the dead are not ascertained but we had reports that they were suspected of being linked to the Taliban," an intelligence official said.
It was not clear who fired the missile but several previous attacks in the area have been attributed to US-led coalition forces based in Afghanistan.
Islamabad is loath to admit any US military action on its territory, given that President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly rejected US offers for joint operations in Pakistan's troubled borderlands.
The United States and other western countries are increasingly concerned by unrest and extremist violence in Pakistan following the assassination last month of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Musharraf said during a visit to London on Monday that a tough stance on extremism was necessary because of incidents like the mass hostage-taking at a school near the northwestern city of Bannu that same day.
The incident ended peacefully late Monday when the gunmen released their captives from the school and fled into North Waziristan, the border of which is only about five kilometres (three miles) away.
Officials did not say if there was any connection between the missile strike and the school siege.
Missile attacks have claimed the lives of several militants in Pakistan. A US Predator drone targeted Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in January 2006, killing several rebels but missing him.
Meanwhile on Tuesday in the neighbouring tribal region of South Waziristan, the army said a soldier was killed in heavy fighting at Shishamwan village.
South Waziristan is the stronghold of shadowy tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who is accused by Pakistan and the United States of masterminding Bhutto's assassination on December 27. He denies any involvement.
Officials also said that five soldiers were wounded in rocket attacks in North Waziristan overnight.
Separately the interior ministry said around 50 militants were known to have died in a major army operation at the weekend to clear militants who had seized a key road tunnel near the northwestern city of Peshawar.
The rebels blew up a car in the tunnel in a bid to destroy it before they fled the area, the army said separately. The tunnel is on a route used to ferry supplies to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan via Pakistan.
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