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Death toll rises in drone strikes in Pakistan

By the CNN Wire Staff
Mountains in the tribal area of the Khyber Agency near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, pictured in 2008.
Mountains in the tribal area of the Khyber Agency near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, pictured in 2008.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Intelligence officials say 57 killed in three drone strikes Friday
  • The strikes occurred in the Khyber Agency in the country's tribal region
  • Suspected militant hideouts were targeted
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Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The death toll in Friday's three drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region has gone up to 57, intelligence officials in Pakistan told CNN on Saturday.

Two intelligence officials say 15 suspected militants were killed in the first drone strike, which targeted a militant hideout.

The second drone strike, which also targeted a militant hideout, killed 17 other suspected militants. In the third, which targeted a training camp, 25 suspected militants were killed.

The three assaults occurred in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

U.S. forces are suspected of carrying out the strikes.

The officials say all three occurred in an area of 4 square kilometers.

The intelligence officials asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

CNN's Chris Lawrence and Nasir Habib contributed to this report.