A US drone aircraft fired two missiles in Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border yesterday, killing 12 militants, intelligence officials said.

The missile attack took place hours after the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, landed in Islamabad for talks as part of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue initiated in March.

The drone targeted a suspected militant compound in Sokhel village, about 16 miles east of Miranshah, the main town of the region and known as a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, the intelligence officials said.

"Twelve militants have been killed and three wounded in the attack on a compound which is linked to Taliban and al-Qaeda," an intelligence official said.

A second intelligence official confirmed the account. A resident, Mohammad Rafiq, said he had seen 11 bodies.

The nationalities of the dead were not immediately available.

The US has stepped up missile strikes in Pakistan's northwestern region since a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees at a US base across the border in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province in December.