A US drone has killed 10 suspected militants in northern Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan, according to Pakistan security officials.
The drone programme, which is part of US counter-terrorism efforts, had been suspended after a Nato air strike last November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
But attacks resumed last month and two missiles were fired at a house in the village of Thapi, in North Waziristan, on Wednesday.
Pakistan security officials said the building was completely destroyed and 10 suspected militants were killed.
A villager who had visited the site said: "Almost all the men were burnt beyond recognition. Dozens of militants arrived later and took over rescue work. They pulled out nine bodies."
Security officials and villagers said the dead included foreign fighters but they did not specify their nationalities.
Several militant groups have strongholds in the northwestern ethnic Pashtun tribal regions, taking advantage of the porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks.
North Waziristan is also an important base area for the Haqqani network, an Afghan militant faction allied with the Taliban.
A Pashtun tribal elder said militants usually avoided gathering, limiting groups to three or four people to minimise losses in the event of a drone attack.
"It has been freezing cold in the last few days and there were no drones for some time. That's why the militants started living together and suffered heavy losses," he said.
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