The attack came just four days after US Special Forces commandos shot dead Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad, hundreds of kilometres from the tribal belt and just two hours' drive from the capital.

The discovery of the world's most-wanted man living in relative comfort has stunned terror experts and American officials who had previously thought North Waziristan or elsewhere in Pakistan's tribal belt his most likely hideout.

"A compound and a vehicle were targeted by US drones in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan killing eight militants," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Eight missiles were fired on the targets located close to each other," he said, adding that four other suspected militants were wounded.

Datta Khel lies 35 kilometres (21 miles) west of Miranshah and about 450 kilometres by road from the town where bin Laden was found and killed.

The area has been targeted by several drone strikes and is a stronghold of militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar, considered close to the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network with whom US officials have accused Pakistani spies of ties.

"We are trying to ascertain the identities of the militants killed in the strike, but initial reports indicate that there are both local and foreign militants who had been killed in the missile attack," the official said.

Pakistani officials refer to Al-Qaeda militants as foreigners.

Local intelligence officials said that the compound also had a madrassa and the vehicle was parked in front of a nearby restaurant.

A drone attack in March in the same area saw Pakistan lodge a particularly forceful public protest over the deaths of civilians, although the campaign is believed to operate with the tacit consent of the government.

The strikes inflame anti-US feeling, which has soared this year since a CIA contractor shot dead two Pakistani men in a busy Lahore street in January.

He was detained for seven weeks and eventually released in exchange for $2 million in blood money.

Under US President Barack Obama missile attacks doubled last year, with more than 100 drone strikes killing over 670 people in 2010 compared with 45 strikes that killed 420 in 2009, according to an AFP tally.

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