A fresh suspected United States missile strike killed at least 12 people, several of whom appeared to be foreign militants in Pakistan's restive Waziristan tribal region, in an overnight attack.

Four missiles struck a house in north Waziristan, a region said to be a stronghold of Taliban [Images] and Al Qaeda [Images] militants, who mount attacks on Afghanistan from the area.

Though there was no official word on the fresh attack, locals said that missiles hit the house of a tribesman Ameer Gul at a village Waladeen Budar, located between North and South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

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TV channels reported that at least four missiles were fired at a house late on Thursday night, killing at least 12 people.

Pakistani officials say that US has so far carried out 19 missile attacks in the tribal regions since August. They claim that mostly civilians are killed in such attacks.

Witnesses said that nine Arab militants were among those killed in the attack. Local authorities in the north corroborated that five foreigners were among the dead.

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The latest strike came a day after Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that such attacks violated international law.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had conveyed Islamabad's [Images] protest over these missile strikes in the course of his meeting with US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice in New York on Thursday.

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After the meeting, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that US attacks were alienating common people and instead the US administration should shore up Pakistani forces to battle these militants.

A recent US report said that the US administration had allowed such attacks in 2004 with the approval of President George W Bush [Images].

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