Over a dozen people including women and children have been killed in a missile strike by suspected US drones on a Pakistan tribal town near the Afghan border, security officials say.

The drones fired several missiles that hit a house near a madrassa or Islamic seminary in North Waziristan, the officials said today, in the fourth such strike in the rugged tribal region in almost a week.

Women and children were among the dead, as well as four militants, including a "foreigner" believed to be of Arab origin.

"The dead included three women, two children and two men," the security official told AFP, adding that more than 25 people had been wounded.

Five of the injured were in critical condition, hospital officials said.

Foreigner is a term used by Pakistan authorities for al-Qaeda militants.

Apparent wrong target

The drones were apparently targeting the house or the madrassa established by former Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani during the 1978-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, residents said.

Haqqani, who was a close aid to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, has not been seen since the fall of the hardline regime in Afghanistan in 2001.

Residents said two pilotless aircraft circled over Dande Darpakhel, three kilometres north of the region's main town of Miranshah, before at least one drone fired several missiles.

Innocents pay the price

On Friday, three children and two women were killed in the same region during a suspected strike by a pilotless aircraft.

At least five militants were also killed the day before when a missile fired from an unmanned plane hit a house in the North Waziristan village of Mohammad Khel, officials said.

The latest strike follows Pakistani claims that US-led forces based in Afghanistan killed 15 people in a border village in neighbouring South Waziristan district last week.

'Death to America'

That attack was condemned by Pakistan's parliament and the foreign minister who issued a tough statement calling the incident "shameful" and stating that only women and children had been targeted.

Around 3,000 Pakistani tribesmen chanted "Allahu akbar" and "death to America" in Wana, the district's main town, after Friday prayers to protest that raid, which involved helicopter gunships and ground troops.

Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan have said they have no knowledge of the incident.

South Waziristan is a known haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

Missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan in recent weeks have been blamed on US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan. Pakistan does not have missile-equipped drones.

US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged terrain after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.