PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Missiles believed to have been fired by an American drone struck an Islamic seminary in northern Pakistan on Thursday, in a rare strike outside the country’s volatile tribal regions.

The attack, in the Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, killed six people and wounded five, including several members of the Haqqani militant network, according to a senior Pakistani security official.

The attack came as Pakistani officials and politicians from across the political spectrum have intensified criticism of the American drone attacks, particularly after a strike on Nov. 1 killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and disrupted the government’s plan to open peace negotiations with the militants.

The drone fired missiles into the seminary, near the border with Afghanistan, around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, Iftikhar Ahmad, a local police officer, said in a telephone interview. Local officials said that drones had been flying over the area since Monday.