Islamabad, Jan 30 (DPA) A US drone attack on a suspected Taliban hideout in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district killed at least nine people, a security official said Saturday.

The strike in the Mohammad Khel village around midnight Friday was the latest in a barrage of aerial raids since Dec 30, when a suicide bomber killed seven US intelligence agents in the Afghan province of Khost.

'Five people were killed instantly, while four of the several more wounded died overnight,' a local security official said on condition of anonymity.

Missiles fired by a pilotless US aircraft flattened a complex and destroyed a vehicle parked inside.

The official said identities of those killed and injured were not known immediately.

North Waziristan is a known enclave of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters linked with the Haqqani network. The insurgents routinely carry out assaults on Western forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The lawless region has been the focus of US strikes since the base bombing of a US intelligence base by a Jordanian double agent, who appeared sitting next to Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in his farewell video.

Pakistan publicly condemns the air attacks on its soil, saying they stoke anti-US sentiments, but analysts believe that the government has a secret understanding with Washington on the issue.