A US drone strike targeting a compound killed at least four people in Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border on Wednesday night.

The strike took place in the town of Machis near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The US drone fired two missiles on a house, killing four people. The identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known.

North Waziristan is one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal regions which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

The government criticises drone strikes as a violation of sovereignty and counterproductive to anti-terror efforts. But ties with Washington have nevertheless improved this year after lurching from crisis to crisis in 2011 and 2012.