UPDATE: Taliban militants said they had shot the U.S. Drone  down.

Taliban militants led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur said they had collected wreckage of the destroyed drone and would provide its pictures to the media on Sunday.

“The drone today in Machikhel was flying at low altitude and our fighters fired at and shot it down,” a local commander of the Taliban said. “We have trained people for such type of job.”

Pakistani intelligence officials and local residents say a suspected U.S. drone has crashed in the country’s northwest tribal region.

Two intelligence officials say the unmanned aircraft went down Saturday near Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan.

The officials say the drone caught fire after it hit the ground and was believed to have crashed because of technical problems. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Local resident Nasir Khan said he saw the burning debris from the roof of his home in the Machi Khel area. It was about 500 yards (meters) from his house.

A US official in Washington denied the Taliban had shot down the drone and declined further comment. The CIA, which runs the drone campaign, also declined to comment.

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