Pakistani officials said that up to 18 people were killed as a major salvo of US missiles allegedly targeted a Pakistani Taliban base on the Afghan border.

Pakistani officials said that up to 18 people were killed as a major salvo of US missiles allegedly targeted a Pakistani Taliban base on the Afghan border.

Officials said that five US drones fired up to 10 missiles into a sprawling compound in the Baber Ghar area of South Waziristan, killing 15 to 18 militants including possible Al-Qaeda fighters.

"The target was a base of Pakistan Taliban. We have reports that 16 to 18 militants were killed," the official told AFP in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Another official in Peshawar put the death toll at 15.

Five US drones carried out Wednesday's attack, one of the officials told AFP in the deadliest such coordinated strike in northwest Pakistan since a similar strike on August 10, in which officials said it had killed 21 fighters in the Afghan Taliban Haqqani faction.