Tuesday's attack killed 80 people, Pakistani officials said, but missed its chief target, Baitullah Mehsud. He is the country's top Taliban leader and its public enemy No. 1, accused of masterminding numerous brutal operations including the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The seemingly accurate targeting appeared to point to cooperation between the U.S. military and Pakistani intelligence - despite Pakistani denials. This was possible because Mehsud - unlike some other U.S. foes in the northwest tribal region on the Afghan border - is reviled in Pakistan.

Missiles apparently fired by unmanned aircraft first struck a purported Taliban training center in South Waziristan, then another barrage rained down on a funeral procession for some of those killed earlier.

Mehsud attended the funeral in Makeen village, and panicky militants reported losing contact with him for a short time immediately after the attack, according to radio intercepts cited by two Pakistani intelligence officials.

But the officials said they later determined that Mehsud left the funeral just before the missiles struck.

The two missile strikes killed at least 80 people, including several senior militants, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information. Fifty-five of those killed were at the funeral, they said.

The Taliban gave a slightly lower count: Waliur Rehman, an aide to Mehsud, said that 65 people were killed, including some militants.

It was not known if civilians were among the dead, an issue that has drawn outrage in Pakistan and Afghanistan whenever U.S. missiles have been fired. The region is too dangerous for outsiders to enter, making independent confirmation of the attack's details impossible.

The U.S. military never comments on drone operations. The highest known death toll in earlier suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan was 30.

Pakistan has loudly disapproved of past drone attacks because they involve the use of force by a foreign government on its soil and sometimes kill innocents.

The latest strikes went unremarked upon by Pakistani officials for almost 24 hours.

When the AP asked for comment, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement reiterating "Pakistan's consistent position is that drone attacks are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and must be stopped."

This time, the apparent U.S. target was Pakistan's most wanted man and the focus of a military operation that is gearing up in his home territory of South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal zone where Osama bin Laden and other high-value U.S. targets may be hiding.

Many Pakistanis support the operation, fed up with the Taliban's brutality in the nearby Swat Valley.