According to the official reports, a U. S. drone has killed seven suspected militants in northern Pakistan, security officials say, but local officials say some of those killed were civilians.

BBC news reported on Thursday that the Predator drone fired at least two missiles into a compound used by alleged Islamist fighters near the town of Miranshah.

The BBC has reported that local tribal elders claim many of those killed were civilians in a village house.

A security official has said that the area is a stronghold of Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose 2,000 fighters in the region stage attacks across the border against NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The attack was the latest in a series in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas, which U. S. officials say is the center of the Taliban and al-Qaida insurgency.

According to the BBC, the United States has stepped up its attacks in the area after Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American charged in the attempted bombing of New York's Times Square in May, allegedly told U. S. interrogators he received bomb training there. (With Inputs from Agencies)