A U.S. drone attack occurred early Thursday in the main town of South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghanistan border where Taliban militants have a stronghold, reports GEO TV. South Waziristan is one of the seven lawless tribal districts of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

U.S. drone attacks have increased this month, reports Reuters, striking tribal area targets several times a week. Thursday's strike comes days after U.S. and British combat troops in Afghanistan announced the official end of their operations.

"The bodies were taken to an unknown location after the attack. We heard from local militants that there was a senior Arab commander but they didn't mention his name," said one villager in South Waziristan.

Another villager told Reuters a number of "foreign guests" were staying in the targeted house after escaping a military offensive in the tribal region of North Waziristan.

Drone strike death tolls are often disputed since North Waziristan is currently off limits to journalists. The Taliban also seals off many strike sites, making it difficult to verify the number and identity of the dead.

Drone airstrikes had stopped while the Pakistani government pursued peace talks with the Taliban insurgency. The talks were fruitless, and the drone strikes resumed.

Pakistan´s foreign ministry criticized the drone strike, saying the attacks violate its sovereignty and hinders the fight against terror.

Drones have attacked hundreds of targets in northwest Pakistan since 2004. Most of the attacks target the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where militants, including al Qaeda-linked Arabs and Uzbeks, stay in the remote mountains along the Afghanistan border with their Pashtun Taliban hosts, plotting and staging attacks.

A drone is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle that is armed and usually under real-time human control. The unmanned aerial vehicles are controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division.