A suspected US missile strike killed at least four militants in a tribal region of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, officials said Thursday. The strike took place in the Essokhel area, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan tribal region, early Thursday morning Pakistan time. "Two missiles fired from a suspected US drone hit the compound of a local pro-militant tribal elder Malik Gulab Khan, killing four residents," a local security official said. Confirming the strike, another official said the nationality of those killed in the strike was not immediately known. The strike is the second in as many days by the drones, with a missile on Wednesday killing up to seven alleged Al-Qaeda militants in the nearby Makeen area of South Waziristan.