Report: U.S. drone kills 24 in Pakistan

DAMADOLA, Pakistan, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. drone reportedly killed 24 people in northern Pakistan, including Taliban members meeting in an underground hideout, witnesses and officials said.

Twelve people were reported wounded in Saturday's attack in Damadola, Bajaur, about 4 miles from the Afghan border.

"I heard two loud explosions when a meeting of the Taliban was in progress," Damadola resident Hazrat Gul told Sunday's edition of Dawn.

Two relatives of Maulvi Faquir Mohammad, a Taliban commander in Bajaur, were among the dead, Dawn reported. Mohammad had left the meeting just minutes before the attack, local officials said.

A Pakistan army spokesman Sunday denied the deaths and injuries were caused by a drone, or pilotless plane. At a news conference in Islamabad, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Saturday's devastation in Damadola was caused by explosive material that blew up while being loaded onto a vehicle.