The strike hit two houses belonging to tribesmen in North Waziristan's Goorweck Baipali village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the main town of Miranshah, and located right on the border with Afghanistan, they said.

"Three children and two women have been killed in the missile strike, which destroyed two village homes," an official said, adding that one woman was injured.

"We suspect that the missiles were fired by forces across the border," the official added. Residents said two pilotless aircraft fired three missiles.

Pakistan's army however denied that any strike was carried out on its sovereign territory.

"There is no strike on our side of the border. The news is incorrect," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

A tribesman in Miranshah said the village criss-crossed the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Half of the village is in Pakistan and the other half is in Afghanistan," Aqleem Khan said.

An interior ministry official said earlier that locals reported the strike was on the Pakistani side of the border but later it was clarified that the houses damaged in the strike were located on the Afghan side.

The White House declined to comment directly on the claim of US involvement from across the border in Afghanistan in recent days.

"We respect their sovereignty and we support their new civilian government," spokeswoman Dana Perino said of Pakistan, adding that US President George W. Bush "grieves any time there is a loss of innocent life."

The latest strike follows Pakistani accusations that US-led forces based in Afghanistan killed 15 people in a border village on Wednesday in neighbouring South Waziristan district.

Around 3,000 Pakistani tribesmen chanted "Allahu akbar" and "death to America" in South Waziristan's Wana district after Friday prayers to protest at Wednesday's claimed US-led raid, which involved helicopter gunships and ground troops.

Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan have said they have no knowledge of that incident.

South Waziristan is a known haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

Several officials claimed that Friday's missile strike killed children and women, not militants.

Friday's incident followed a separate attack late Thursday when at least five militants were killed when a missile fired from an unmanned plane hit a house in the North Waziristan village of Mohammad Khel, officials said.

Missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan in recent weeks have been blamed on US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan. Pakistan does not have missile-equipped drones.

US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged region after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.

earlier related report
Berlin paid 20,000 dollars compensation for Afghan deaths: report
Germany paid 20,000 dollars in compensation to relatives of a woman and two children shot dead last week at a checkpoint manned by its soldiers in northern Afghanistan, a report said Saturday.

The weekly Der Spiegel, in the report to appear in its next edition out Monday, said two payments had been made by German army officers, initially of 5,000 dollars, with the remainder being handed over on Friday.

A tribal chief in Kundu who received the cash remarked that "the problem with the Germans" was now settled, Der Spiegel added.

A German military spokesman in Potsdam, near Berlin contacted by AFP refused to comment Saturday.

On Wednesday defence ministry spokesman Christian Dienst said the payment of compensation and an apology for the previous Thursday's incident had prevented the family launching a "vendetta" against German soldiers in revenge.

"The measures led to a significant calming of the situation among the Pashtun clan concerned and leads to an improvement in security for German soldiers on the ground," he said.

He refused to say how much money had been paid. Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung also made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday to pay his respects to the relatives.

German and NATO forces said that the three were killed after both German and Afghan troops opened fire on a vehicle that had failed to stop at a checkpoint even after warning shots had been fired.

It was one of a recent string of incidents that analysts say are damaging the reputation of the almost 70,000 international troops as well as the Afghan government, which need the backing of the local population if they want to beat a Taliban-led insurgency.

Defence ministry spokesman Dienst stressed that the payment was "not an admission of guilt" and that the incident was still being investigated.

Prosecutors in Potsdam have reportedly launched proceedings against one of the German soldiers involved for suspected manslaughter.

Germany's 3,300 troops, under NATO command, are based in northern Afghanistan which is seen as relatively calm compared to the more volatile south and east where British, Canadian and US troops have borne the brunt of Taliban attacks.

The mission is highly unpopular in Germany.

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