ISLAMABAD – Two suspected U.S. missile strikes have killed nine people in a northwestern Pakistan tribal region along the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday

One evening strike in the town of Mohammad Khel killed four people and a second in Datta Khel killed five, two officials said.

The identity of the dead was not immediately known, but the area of the strikes in North Waziristan is believed to be controlled by Pakistani Taliban militants.

The officials said all nine dead are believed to be militants and some may be foreign fighters. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

They had no further details.

The strikes would be the seventh and eighth missile attacks this month, keeping up a recent surge in such CIA-run, drone-fired attacks.

In September, the U.S. is believed to have launched at least 21 such attacks, an unprecedented number and nearly all in North Waziristan.

The U.S. rarely acknowledges the covert missile strike program. Pakistan officially opposes the program, but is believed to secretly support it.