A Haqqani network commander, Ehsan, also known as Khawari, and two of his companions were allegedly killed during a twin drone strike conducted in North Waziristan, DawnNews reported on Wednesday.

The report said that sources within the political administration of Speen Thal Dapa Mamozai said the drone strikes, allegedly carried out by US spy planes, targeted a house belonging to Afghan refugees.

Station House Officer Thal, Ameer Zaman confirmed the death of a man named Ehsan, also known as Khawari.

Local sources from the Orakzai Agency said the strike was carried out on a Haqqani Network hideout.

Dawn news reported on January 17, in the first drone strike of the year, one man was seriously injured in Kurram Agency's Badshah Kot area near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Two people were killed on December 26, 2017 in another drone strike which targeted a vehicle. The strike occurred in the Mata Sangar area of Kurram.

In the same month, a US drone fired a missile at a compound in the same area. The missile had been fired at the compound at around 9pm, but no casualties were reported.

According to Dawn news, in November 2017, three suspected militants were killed in another drone strike targeting a militant compound in Afghanistan's Paktia province near the Pak-Afghan border.

Dawn news reports that drone strikes have surged in Kurram in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new Afghan policy in August, in which Pakistan was also accused of offering “safe havens to agents of chaos”.