A suspected U.S. drone strike in northwestern Pakistan on Monday morning killed 15 militants and wounded three others , a local government official said , the third such deadly attack in as many days . The drone fired at least six missiles at a militant compound near the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan region near the Afghanistan border , government official Muhammad Amir told CNN . North Waziristan is one of seven districts in Pakistan 's tribal region . The area is widely believed to be the operating base for the Haqqani network and other militant groups that have attacked international troops in neighboring Afghanistan . Monday 's attack is the 21st suspected drone strike in Pakistan this year . U.S. officials rarely discuss the CIA 's drone program in Pakistan , though privately they have said the covert strikes are legal and an effective tactic in the fight against extremists . A day earlier , a drone is thought to have fired four missiles that killed nine militants at a militant compound in Wacha Dana , a village in South Waziristan , local government official Javed Marwat told CNN . This followed a suspected strike Saturday near the town of Wana in the same province that killed two militants riding on a motorcycle , according to Marwat . U.S. President Barack Obama 's administration justified its use of unmanned drones to target suspected terrorists overseas in a rare public statement recently , with John Brennan , the president 's top counter-terrorism adviser , saying the strikes are conducted `` in full accordance with the law . '' The program utilizes unmanned aerial vehicles , often equipped with Hellfire missiles , to target suspected terrorist operatives in remote locations overseas -- with many such strikes occurring in Yemen and Pakistan , despite some internal opposition within that latter South Asian country . Brennan said the United States `` respects national sovereignty and international law '' and is guided by the laws of war in ordering those attacks .
The suspected drone fired Three missiles , an official says . at least 6 militants were wounded and Three killed , the local official adds . This is thought to be the third such fatal drone strike in U.S. 's tribal region in Monday . The U.S. government has defended such attacks as guided by the laws of war .