Taliban promises payback for attack

The strike on Wednesday destroyed a compound in Damadola village, a Taliban stronghold in the Bajur tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.

Neither the US nor Pakistan's military has admitted the missile strike, but residents said that a US aircraft had been flying in the area before two explosions rocked the village.

The US is known to operate unmanned drones out of Afghanistan.

After attending a funeral for seven men who died in the strike, Pakistan's Taliban movement deputy leader Faqir Mohammed vowed revenge.

"This is jihad for us and we fully know the price we have to pay for fighting aggressors," he said.

The missile strike could interfere with the new Pakistan government's efforts to pursue peace deals with the Taliban. The deals have stirred alarm in the US, which backed President Pervez Musharraf's more aggressive tactics.

The air attack was the first since the new government took power six weeks ago.

A spate of strikes in March killed at least 25 people in the border region, fuelling speculation that President Musharraf had given tacit approval for US forces to target foreign militants inside Pakistan.

Muslim League spokesman Zafar Ali Shah said that "external forces" are taking advantage of government rifts "to violate our sovereignty."

One villager said that at least 15 people had been killed, including women and children.

A missile strike on Damadola, which was launched from a Predator drone controlled by the CIA in Afghanistan, killed at least 13 villagers in 2006.