ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani on Friday said that US drone attacks are unacceptable as these are violating sovereignty of Pakistan.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, the secretary said dialogue with the United States is the only way forward to resolve the issue of drone attacks.

However, he said, around 80 per cent of total 3000 people killed in drone attacks were terrorists.

The statement came the same day when in a similar attack at least seven alleged militants were killed by the US spy planes in Babar Ghar area of restive Waziristan.

The secretary said international community is supporting Pakistan on the issue. He said some Afghani Taliban prisoners have also been released on the demand of the Afghan government.

US drone strikes last month killed a prominent warlord, who had sent insurgents to fight Nato troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Mullah Nazir, one of the highest-profile drone victims in recent years, was the main militant commander in South Waziristan, part of the tribal zone where militants linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda have bases on the Afghan border.

The covert US drone strikes are publicly criticised by the Pakistani government as a violation of sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon in the war against militants.

Legal lobby group Reprieve estimates that up to nearly 900 civilians were among the 2,621 to 3,442 people killed by drones in Pakistan since 2004— APP/DawnNews