The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Dera Ismail Khan

A suspected U.S. drone fired at least one missile on Thursday into a Pakistani region on the Afghan border regarded as a militant haven, Pakistani intelligence agency officials said.

The missile hit a house in the village of Sam in South Waziristan, in an area known as a stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, head of Pakistani Taliban militants.

"There may be casualties, we are checking," said an intelligence official, who declined to be identified.

U.S. officials say al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban militants operate out of safe havens in northwest Pakistan, training for an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan that has helped make that country deadlier now than Iraq for U.S. troops.

U.S. impatience has been growing over what Washington sees as Pakistan's failure to eliminate the militant threat in the sanctuaries in the remote ethnic Pashtun regions.

U.S.-operated pilotless drones have stepped up strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of September, firing missiles at suspected militants 11 times and killing dozens of people, most of them militants, Pakistani security officials have said.

Another intelligence official said two missiles were fired on Thursday.

"Drones are still flying in the area. No one is going close as they fear more missiles could be fired," the second official said.

A resident of Sam said by telephone two big explosions had shaken the village.

The first intelligence official said militants had cordoned off the area and were not letting anyone approach.