A suspected United States (US) drone strike hit a militant compound near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan early on Thursday morning, killing three militants, Pakistani officials said.
According to two Pakistani intelligence officials, the unmanned drone fired two missiles at the Ghaznavi compound of the militant Haqqani network's commander Abdur Rasheed. The network is affiliated with Afghan Taliban.
It was unclear if Rasheed was at the compound at the time of the strike, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The compound is located on the Pesho Ghar mountain in the Kurram tribal region's Ghuzgari area.
In Afghanistan, Abdullah Asrat, spokesman for the provincial governor of Paktia province that borders the Kurram tribal region, said the drone strike took place on Afghan soil, in Patan district. He also gave a higher death toll, saying that seven militants were killed, including two commanders, and that two were wounded.
The border separating the two countries zigzags across a remote and difficult mountain terrain. The 2,400-kilometres boundary is known as the Durand Line and was drawn up by British rulers in 1896.
Pakistan is building a fence along the boundary to halt the cross-border movement of militants but Kabul, which does not recognize the Durand Line as an international border, has objected to the fence as a land grab by Islamabad.
Pakistan opposes the drone strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty and claims it has eradicated militant sanctuaries there. The strikes, however, effectively target hideouts of militants who operate on both sides of the porous border.
Also on Thursday, the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shia mosque in the Pakistani capital the previous evening that killed an intelligence official and wounded four other worshippers.
Sunni extremists consider Shias heretics and frequently target them and their places of worship.
Two Pakistani paramilitary Rangers died and four were wounded in southwestern Baluchistan province after stepping on a landmine during patrol late on Wednesday, the police said.
