A US drone attack Sunday killed 20 militants in an area of Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt where local Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud reportedly escaped death days ago, officials said. The attack took place in the area of Shaktoi, where US missiles pounded an extremist hideout on Thursday, 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, Miranshah. That raid triggered rumours that Mehsud had been killed or injured, but the chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released an audio message late Saturday denying reports of his demise and vowing revenge for the US strikes. Security officials said US drones appeared to be tracking Mehsud, in a surge in strikes by unmanned spy planes. Sunday's deadly bombing was the 10th US drone strike to hit Pakistan's tribal belt this month. "The target was a militant compound," said a security official in the area. "Twenty militant deaths have been confirmed." An intelligence official said that drone aircraft fired at least three missiles and that militants had ringed the demolished compound in the remote and mountainous area and were digging out the bodies. "The drones are apparently tracking and targeting Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, whose presence is frequently reported in the area," he said. Another security official, who also asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the US strikes, said it was too early to tell if any high-value militant targets were among the 20 killed. Mehsud released a new audio recording on Saturday to dispel rumours of his death, which the military had said they were investigating. The TTP said Mehsud left the site of the attack less than an hour beforehand.
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