News CENTRAL/S. ASIA Pakistan denies drone attack report

A wave of Taliban attacks across Pakistan has heightened security concerns [Reuters]

Pakistan's military has denied that a US drone attack was behind the deaths of as many as 22 people in the country's tribal areas, insisting that the campaign against the Taliban there is a purely Pakistani offensive.

The confusion over the incident on Saturday slightly overshadowed the military's claim that it had captured the hometown of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader in South Waziristan.

Soon after the military's announcement, officials were quoted as saying a missile from a suspected US drone attack had hit a house in Chuhatra village in Bajaur.

"The missile hit home of Maulvi Faqir [a local Taliban commander] and we have reports of 10 dead," Abdul Malik, an official in the region, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

Other reports said 14 people had been killed. The Associated Press quoted Mohammad Jamil, a government official, as saying the suspect US drone attack had killed as many as 22 people.

The target appeared to be Faqir Mohammad, a prominent Taliban leader, but he is believed to have escaped, Jamil said.

All of those killed were said to be Taliban fighters.