Kabul, November 9 (RHC)-- At least three people have lost their lives in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, a local official says.

A Nangarhar Provincial police spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News that the incident took place in Nangarhar's Ghani Khel district on Saturday night. The U.S. drone attack killed three militants, including one Pakistani national, and left another militant injured.

Washington has been conducting drone operations in Afghanistan over the past several years. The aerial campaign has sharply intensified, with at least 80 U.S. drone strikes hitting the war-torn Asian country in October alone.

The United States regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, among other places.

Washington claims that the airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The United Nations also says the US drone attacks are "targeted killings" that flout international law.

Earlier this month, an American whistleblower, known as the New Snowden in media, leaked a set of secret documents to the Intercept, revealing the details of the U.S. drone campaign in different countries, including Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan.