Five rebels killed by drone missile in northern Pakistan

A missile fired from an unmanned aerial drone killed five militants and wounded six people in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on Friday, a Pakistani security official said.

The US has used drones to attack militants in the area in the past, but in Washington a Pentagon spokesman denied that the US military was involved in a strike, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for the CIA, which operates drones as well, declined to comment.

The missile killed the militants inside a compound near a large madrasah, or religious school, that was established by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban commander with close ties to Osama bin Laden, the security official said. The strike took place in a village outside Miran Shah, the administrative center of the North Waziristan tribal area.

The compound served as a safe house for Islamic fighters crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.