US drone strikes targeting three compounds on Friday, alleged to be militant, killing at least 15 people in Pakistan’s restive tribal region near the Afghan border.

US drone strikes targeting three compounds on Friday, alleged to be militant, killing at least 15 people in Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The strikes in Tundar village in North Waziristan, known as a bastion of Taliban and Al-Qaeda, came a day after Pakistan summoned a US diplomat to protest over drone attacks, calling them "unlawful".

Missile attacks from unmanned US aircraft in North Waziristan have now killed at least 30 people since the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr on Saturday.

Pakistan has repeatedly criticized American drone attacks in its territory, calling them counter-productive, and a foreign ministry spokesman condemned the latest incident.

A senior security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar speaking on condition of anonymity said US drones fired a total of six missiles, two each on three separate compounds.

Another security official confirmed the higher figure and said it may rise further as more details of the attack emerged.

A third security official confirmed the strikes and said the identities of the dead were not immediately clear.

But attacks by unmanned US aircraft remain contentious -- they are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment, but American officials are said to believe they are too important to give up.

Foreign ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan criticized Friday's strikes during his weekly press briefing in Islamabad.

"We regard these strikes as illegal and unproductive," he said.

"These attacks also violate our sovereignty, territorial integrity and are in contravention of international laws."

The surge in drone attacks this week has come after reports of a thaw in Islamabad's difficult ties with the United States following a visit to Washington by Pakistan's spymaster, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, earlier this month.