A US drone strike killed five militants in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border. The strike hit the Dandey Darpa Khel area, about five kilometres from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan district, a known hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

“The US drone fired three missiles and hit a house used by militants. Five militants have been killed,” A senior security official in Peshawar said. An intelligence official in Miranshah also confirmed the attack and the toll. The Monday attack is the second in three days, following a similar strike in North Waziristan on Saturday which killed four militants, the official said.

The nationalities of the militants killed in the Monday attack were not immediately clear, but intelligence officials in the area said most of those killed were Afghans. Residents in Miranshah said militants linked to the Haqqani network were using the house as a training camp. The missile attack also badly damaged a nearby house, injuring 13 people including civilian women and children, an intelligence official in Miranshah said.