Drone strike kills 25 in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan, April 22 (UPI) -- An unmanned aircraft bombed a northwestern Pakistan tribal area Friday, killing 25 people, including five women and four children, security officials said.

The attack was on a compound suspected by the United States of harboring Taliban and al-Qaida members in North Waziristan, a mountainous tribal region that borders Afghanistan, the BBC reported.

Four bombs targeted the compound in the town of Miranshah but a nearby house was also destroyed and the women and children were killed there, officials said.

The United States doesn't report on drone aircraft attacks but Pakistani military officials say no other country has the technology to conduct such raids.

On Thursday, Pakistani Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani told U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen the drone strikes were hampering Pakistan's own efforts to capture or kill militants, the report said.

Drone bombings, purportedly managed by the CIA, have been blamed for hundreds of civilians' deaths, the BBC said.

More than 100 drone attacks were reported in Pakistan last year.