MIRANSHAH, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- At least ten suspected Taliban-affiliated militants were killed on early Wednesday morning when a U.S. drone launched an airstrike in Pakistan's volatile tribal region, Pakistani intelligence officials said. Several others were injured.

The attack happened on early Wednesday morning when the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at a house in the village of Tappi, approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of Miranshah, the main town in Pakistan's North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the house was allegedly used by fighters from the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network, which is one of the top terrorist organizations and threats to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

At least ten suspected militants were killed in the airstrike, which completely destroyed the compound, and there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties. The officials said both Afghan and Pakistani fighters were believed to be among those killed, while several others were believed to be injured.

Late last month, U.S. President Barack Obama, for the first time during his presidency, publicly acknowledged that U.S. drones regularly strike suspected militants along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He confirmed that many of these strikes are carried out in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects in tough terrain.

Obama's statements were part of a web interview which was broadcast live on the video-sharing website YouTube and social networking website Google+. The interview was carried out just three weeks after the first U.S. drone strikes of the year, almost two months after its previous attack.

Few details about casualties from the strikes are usually available, but allegations of civilian casualties regularly spark protests in Pakistan. According to the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation, as many as 2,680 individuals were killed as a result of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and early 2012.

And according to a report released by the Conflict Monitoring Center in January, at least 609 people were killed as a result of 75 drone strikes in Pakistan in 2011 alone. The group has documented 303 drone strikes since 2004, with a total death toll of at least 2,661.

The U.S. considers the Pakistan-Afghan border to be the most dangerous place on Earth. The area is known to be a stronghold of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network, which is one of the top terrorist organizations and threats to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

But controversy has surrounded the drone strikes as local residents and officials have blamed them for killing innocent civilians and motivating young men to join the Taliban. Details about the alleged militants are usually not provided, and the U.S. government does not comment on the strikes.

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