ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Intelligence officials have raised the death toll in the most recent U.S. missile attacks in northwest Pakistan to 22.
Initial reports put the death toll in Friday's attacks in North and South Waziristan at 18.
Eight suspected foreign militants are among the dead and Pakistani officials say authorities are trying to determine the seniority of an Egyptian al-Qaida militant believed to have been killed.
Friday's attacks were the first since the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and suggest that he will allow U.S. forces to continue targeting al-Qaida and Taliban operatives inside Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.
Pakistani leaders complain publicly that the stepped-up missile strikes - more than 30 since August - violate the country's sovereignty and undermine the government's own efforts to tackle rising Islamist violence at home.
However, Islamabad is believed to have a tacit agreement with Washington to allow the missile strikes, which U.S. claim have killed a number of insurgent leaders behind attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.
