Islamabad, Jan. 7 : A US drone strike killed a cousin of the Pakistani Taliban''s chief Hakimullah Mehsud, along with nine other suspected militants, in the Bobar area of South Waziristan on Sunday.

According to sources, the drones fired 10 missiles, destroying three compounds in the area close to the Frontier Regions of Tank and Lakki Marwat. One of the destroyed compounds belonged to Punjabi Taliban leader Qari Imran, reports The Dawn.

Sources said the dead included Mehsud''s cousin and close aide Wali Mohammad Toofan.

Toofan had been recently elevated to head Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan''s ''Fidai wing'' after its leader Qari Hussain died in a drone strike in Mirali, North Waziristan.

Another victim of Sunday''s drone strike was identified as Sailab. Most of those killed belonged to the Mehsud tribe. Meanwhile, security forces resorted to intense mortar shelling on suspected militant positions in Sheen Nari, near Bobar.

Helicopter gunships also shelled the locality between 9am and 3pm, the sources said. The covert US drone strikes are criticised by Pakistan as a violation of its sovereignty. (ANI)