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US strike killed terrorists: official
A US airstrike in Pakistan last week killed at least four foreign terrorists, a Pakistani official said overnight.Fahim Wazir, the chief government official in the region where the strike occurred, said at least 10 or 12 terrorists from outside Pakistan had been invited to attend a feast in the village of Damadola. Wazir said that militants had carted off the bodies of the foreigners before authorities arrived at the scene of the attack. US officials have said the airstrike on Friday was meant to kill al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. According to intelligence sources, the CIA believed Zawahri was among the foreigners, but Pakistani intelligence officers say the Egyptian-born deputy to Osama bin Laden never turned up for the feast, although he had been invited. The US attack has enraged many Pakistanis and the Government of President Pervez Musharraf is having to cope with protests against the deaths of 18 civilians when the missiles hit three houses in Damadola, close to the Afghan border. Pakistan lodged a protest with US Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Saturday and there have been nationwide protests. Government and opposition parties have spoken against the US action. Despite the diplomatic protest, intelligence sources say the US has Pakistan's tacit agreement to carry out such operations in the Pashtun tribal areas. According to intelligence officers in Washington, the airstrike was probably carried out by Predator drone aircraft used in similar operations to eliminate other al-Qaeda figures. Many people had expected Mr Musharraf to broach the issue in a televised address overnight. But instead he talked about deferring an unpopular mega-dam project, criticised tribal militants in Baluchistan, and spoke of the long-term need to help people affected by last October's earthquake in Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. Earlier, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who was due to leave for an official visit to the US, called the airstrike "one unfortunate event" in a long relationship. Speaking at a news conference with former US President George Bush, a special UN envoy for relief for Pakistan's October earthquake, Mr Aziz said Pakistan was "committed to the fight on terrorism". But he said "naturally we cannot accept any action within our country which results in what happened over the weekend ... our relationship with the US is important, it is growing, but at the same time such actions cannot be condoned". The US Government has not commented. Pakistan hopes to gain more materially from its alliance with the US. Among the issues Mr Aziz was expected to discuss in Washington are plans to purchase F-16 fighter planes. Pakistan also wants access to civilian nuclear technology. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-01-17 |
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