The attack came a day after Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a police academy in the eastern city of Lahore, saying it was retaliation for US missile strikes on militant bases on the Afghan border.
Mehsud also vowed to launch an attack on Washington or even the White House in phone interviews with The Associated Press and local media.
The FBI, however, said he had made similar threats previously and there was no indication of anything imminent.
A local intelligence official told The Associated Press that the compound attacked Wednesday in a remote area of the Orakzai tribal region near the Afghan border belonged to one of Mehsud´s commanders. Up to 30 suspected militants were at the compound when it was hit, and the Taliban have moved the dead and injured to an undisclosed location, he said.
Two other senior intelligence officials said they believe the 12 people who were killed included close associates of Mehsud. But it was difficult to confirm the exact identities of those involved because the Taliban surrounded the area shortly after the attack, they said.
The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Liaquat Ali, a local government official in Orakzai, confirmed the attack but could not provide casualty figures or the identities of the people targeted.
Wednesday´s attack was believed to be the first such drone strike in Orakzai, although the US is suspected of having carried out nearly three dozen other attacks near the Afghan border.
Pakistan, a key US ally, opposes such drone attacks because it believes they are a violation of the country´s sovereignty and kill innocent civilians. However, the US has said they are a critical tool for countering militants in Pakistan who are launching attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan says the attacks are counterproductive because they anger local residents and generate sympathy for the militants.
Mehsud has no record of striking targets abroad, although he is suspected of being behind a 10-man cell arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 for plotting suicide attacks in Spain.
The US has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Pakistan´s former government and the CIA consider him the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al-Qaida, and of training suicide bombers.
Washington has stepped up pressure on Pakistan crack down on militants operating in its territory that pose a threat to US and NATO forces. Militants have also been increasing attacks within Pakistan, threatening to destabilize the nuclear-armed country.
Monday´s attack on a police academy on Lahore´s outskirts left at least 12 people dead, including seven police, and sparked an eight-hour standoff with security forces that ended when black-clad commandos stormed the compound. Some of the gunmen blew themselves up.
Analysts doubt that Taliban fighters carried off Monday´s raid on the Lahore academy on their own, saying the group is likely working more closely than ever with militants based far from the Afghan frontier.
It´s a constellation that includes al-Qaida, presenting a formidable challenge to the US as it increases its troop presence in the region, not to mention Pakistan´s own stability.
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Associated Press writer Hussain Afzal contributed to this report from Parachinar.
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