U.S. drone strike kills 11 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 19 (UPI) -- A suspected U.S. drone attack killed at least 11 people in a tribal Pakistan region near the country's border with Afghanistan, officials said.

The BBC reported Saturday two missiles fired from a drone aircraft struck a house in a village in the tribal region of North Waziristan about 15 miles east of the main town of Miran Shah.

Officials said the identities of the dead are not known but militants were believed to have been in the house.

Drones have increasingly targeting North Waziristan, seen as a haven for the Taliban, al-Qaida and other terror groups who plan Afghanistan attacks on U.S.-led NATO troops from their hideouts.

Since the beginning of 2010, about 70 drone strikes have killed more than 200 people in North and South Waziristan, the BBC said.

Last month, al-Qaida's third in command, operations chief Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, also known as Sheikh Said al-Masri, was believed to have been killed in a missile strike in North Waziristan.