Two Pakistani women and two children were killed by artillery shells fired by America-led coalition forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, the Pakistani army said Thursday.

An army spokesman said the shells destroyed the victims' house in the Pakistan tribal region of North Waziristan.

"The coalition forces were firing at a group of militants when five shells landed in Pakistan, destroying a house and killing two women and two children," chief military spokesman Athar Abbas claimed.

Local officials said the house in the town of Lwara Mundi belonged to a local tribesman.