Airstrikes have killed at least 30 militants including senior men loyal to local commanders in Pakistan's northwest.
The target of the late Sunday strikes in the North Waziristan tribal district were allied warlords Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Sadiq Noor, according to security officials.
Both belong to the feared Haqqani network, accused of sending fighters and suicide bombers against US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
"At least 30 militants have been killed. Dozens of fighters and commanders were gathered for a joint meeting of both the groups," militant sources told news agency AFP.
There were unconfirmed reports Bahadur and Noor were among the dead but a second security official in the country's northwest said they were still trying to verify the information.
"The only thing I can confirm is that the target of airstrikes was Hafiz Gul Bahadur," he said.
It's understood the two were seen in the area earlier on Sunday.
Seven "important commanders" of Bahadur and Noor were among those killed in the airstrikes, sources said.
Local residents said militants have sealed off the area to outsiders.
Bahadur, a prominent local warlord once seen as "pro-Pakistani" but who has switched sides in the past, is angry over the military offensive in North Waziristan.
He was the first militant commander to declare a ban on polio vaccinations in June 2012, which was later endorsed by tribesmen and other militants groups in the rest of the tribal districts and in the adjacent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Their ban has risked the health of tens of thousands of children, particularly in the northwest.
North Waziristan is one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan. It has been a hub for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.
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