MIRANSHAH, Oct 8 Ten suspected militants were killed when a US drone fired two missiles on a compound in North Waziristan on Friday, official sources said.

The missiles hit the compound in Charkhel village, about 25km west of Miramshah in Dattakhel tehsil, the sources said.

Agencies add Two suspected US missile strikes killed nine people in the tribal region along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.

One evening strike in the town of Mohammad Khel killed four people and a second in Datta Khel killed five, two officials said.

The identity of the dead was not immediately known, but the area of the strikes in North Waziristan is believed to be controlled by the Taliban militants. The officials said all nine dead are believed to be militants and some may be foreign fighters. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

An intelligence official in Miramshah said “Both of the missiles hit the militants' compound. We are investigating whether there were any high-value targets.”

He said that according to initial indications all of the dead were local militants.

But another intelligence official in Miramshah said “We are investigating a report that there were four Turkmen fighters among the dead.” Officials said earlier this week that a drone strike had killed five German militants.