The attack was the latest in a series of strikes by pilotless US aircraft in the restive northwest region, they said.

"It was a drone attack," local administration official Shahab Ali Shah told AFP.

The official said two missiles hit a house in Gangi Khel area on the outskirts of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district along the Afghan border.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack targeted a militant hideout, killing three suspected rebels. Five others were wounded, the official added.

But a security official said seven militants had died.

"Seven militants were killed in the twin strike," he said, adding that there was no immediate report of any high-value targets.

Residents said the attack flattened the compound and destroyed a vehicle parked nearby.

"It was a fortress-type house owned by local tribesman Mohammad Wali, there were about a dozen rooms," his neighbour Roshan Khan told AFP.

One missile hit a "Shashpai," or six-wheeler truck, which was apparently loaded with explosives, he said.

"The truck exploded with a big bang and the smell of explosives filled the area," he said. "I am standing 500 metres (yards) away but the smell is intolerable."

Khan said he saw no casualties and Taliban who had surrounded the house gave no figure.

The semi-autonomous South Waziristan is a stronghold of Pakistan's top Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who recently threatened to avenge missile strikes with attacks across the country and in the United States.

Earlier this month three suspected militants were killed in a similar attack in the area.

Sunday's attack was the fourth suspected US strike this month and follows the unveiling of a strategy by US President Barack Obama to defeat extremists in South Asia that puts Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda.

However, the Pakistan government is opposed to attacks by unmanned aircraft, which it says violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment among Pakistanis.

Around 370 people and suspected militants have died in around 38 such attacks since August 2008.

Pakistan has paid dearly for its alliance with the US in its "war on terror," with militant attacks killing more than 1,700 people since July 2007.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, after talks with US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen and diplomatic envoy Richard Holbrooke last week, said there were stark differences of opinion on the attacks.

"We did talk about drones, and let me be very frank, there's a gap," he said.

"We can only work together if we respect each other and we trust each other. There is no other way. Nothing else will work," he added.

The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in neighbouring Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region.

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