KURRAM: Drones killed 11 Haqqani fighters in Kurram, in two strikes just minutes apart on Monday, security officials said.
Local officials said it was only the fourth time that drones had hit Kurram, where Haqqani loyalists are believed to have fled from their headquarters in Waziristan.
Drones more routinely target Taliban and al Qaeda militants in the neighbouring North Waziristan district.
Two separate drone strikes destroyed a vehicle travelling through the Kharh Dhand area of Kurram, which borders Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktistan. Then minutes later, a nearby compound was hit, local officials said.
Security officials said 11 militants were killed.
"All those killed in both strikes were Haqqani's men," a local official told AFP, adding that the Haqqani militants had been hiding out in the surrounding mountains for "several months".
Hundreds of armed tribesmen on Monday gathered in Miranshah, shouting "Stop drone attacks".
"The drone attacks are targeting innocent people, innocent women and children," local tribal elder Malik Shahzada told the gathering.
"We will protest in Peshawar and will stage a sit-in in Islamabad if government did not take steps to stop it," he added.
On Monday, officials in Mohmand said dozens of militants attacked the homes of two tribal elders, killing 11 people in Ziarat Masood village after local troops started a ground and air offensive.
Local administration official Zabit Khan told AFP that up to 70 militants, armed with rockets, hand grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, attacked the two houses late Sunday and that sons of the tribal elders were among the dead.
Another local official described the attack as possible retaliation for operations to evict militants from the stronghold of Walidad in Mohmand, which the military on Sunday said killed 25 rebels.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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