A US drone has fired a pair of missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border, killing three people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The strike early on Thursday hit Mubarak Shahi village in the North Waziristan tribal area.

Violation of sovereignty

The covert US attacks are unpopular in Pakistan, where the government criticizes them as a violation of sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon against Taliban fighters.

The US rarely discusses the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan in public.

On Wednesday, a pair of suicide bombers rammed their truck filled with explosives into the gate of an army camp in another part of Pakistan's tribal region, killing three soldiers and wounding more than 20, intelligence officials said.

Many were wounded when the blast caused the roof of a military hospital at the camp to collapse, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Some of the soldiers were critically wounded, and officials warned the death toll could rise.

The attack occurred in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal area, which was the most important sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban until the army launched a major ground offensive in 2009.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map of Pakistan locating North Waziristan

Al-Jazeera