In stepped up attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda bases in Pakistan's tribal areas, a suspected US drone fired missiles on a militant commander's house killing up to 20 people, including a prominent commander.

Haji Omar Khan, a Lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early Monday morning, local TV channels reported.

The latest attack, the twelfth in the last one month, targetted the house which intelligence agencies said belonged to a close aide of one of the Taliban commanders.

According to reports militants cordoned off the scene of the strike and the identity of the 20 bodies in the rubble was not known.

The attack came even as Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani said that US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt were weakening the country's efforts to combat terrorism.

Last week, the Senate or upper house of parliament had condemned the missile strikes, saying they were unacceptable.

Members of the Senate also pointed out that the strikes had continued despite assurances from the US that no such attacks would take place.

"Certainly (US attacks) are proving counter-productive to (the government's) efforts of isolating extremists and militants from the tribal population, which was going through the formation of tribal lashkars (militias)," Gilani said.

Gilani described the missiles strikes as attacks on Pakistan's sovereignty and said they would not be tolerated. The government would take all possible steps to stop the attacks, he said.

... contd.