US predator drones have killed 31 people and wounded many more in Pakistan after missiles rained down on Dattakhel village in the Degan area of North Waziristan, according to intelligence sources.

Pakistan government officials said nine spy planes fired 18 missiles causing heavy human loss. Locals were said to be digging out the dead and wounded from the debris.

One of the strikes is believed to have targeted Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Afghan Taliban in the semi-autonomous tribal region near the Afghan border.

However a commander of the group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNN that Haqqani "is alive and was not in the area at the time of the attack."

It is the biggest attack so far by American unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Pakistani tribal area

Drone attacks in the region have intensified since a suicide bombing against a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan on December 30 last year.