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| India-Pakistan |
| 4-5 Egyptians killed in Damadola |
| 2006-01-18 |
| The provincial government said Tuesday that in addition to 18 civilians, four or five foreign militants were killed by the American airstrikes on the village of Damadola on Friday, but that their bodies were removed from the scene by companions. In all, 10 to 12 militants had been invited to a dinner in the village that night, it said. The findings, the first official statement that militants had been among those killed, were from a preliminary joint investigation at the scene by government agencies. The initial investigation found the attack was "directed against some foreign terrorists who were present in the area at the time of occurrence," the statement said, quoting Fahim Wazir, the political administrator of the Bajaur region, where the attacks took place. The deaths of 18 civilians, among them 6 children, have stirred anger among the population in Pakistan and put pressure on the government to explain what happened in Bajaur. Villagers from Damadola insisted to local journalists that there had been no militants in the area that night. Yet President Pervez Musharraf said the day after the strikes that there had been a foreign presence in the village, and he urged the population not to harbor foreign militants. The government has since come under a flurry of accusations from opponents that Pakistani and American government officials have leaked false information that Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and other militants were in the village, in order to make excuses for the attack. The government statement goes part way to countering those accusations, since the bodies of the militants, it said, were taken away from the scene. "At least four to five foreign elements had also been killed in the incident, but their bodies were removed from the scene within no time by their companions, so as to suppress the actual reason of the attack," Mr. Wazir said, according to the statement. "It is highly regrettable that this attack led to the killing of 18 innocent local people," he said, "but this is also an undeniable fact, that at least 10 to 12 foreign miscreants were invited to a dinner in this village on that night." Investigations were continuing, the statement said. American officials have said the airstrike was aimed at Mr. Zawahiri. Pakistani officials say Mr. Zawahiri was not at the site of the attack, having failed to show up for the dinner. An American counterterrorism official said Tuesday that the attack had been based on good intelligence about Mr. Zawahiri's location, and said that there was still no conclusive evidence as to whether he had survived. The official said there were indications that the other Al Qaeda members killed in the attack had included some who, like Mr. Zawahiri, are of Egyptian origin. In interviews, American counterterrorism officials said American military and intelligence personnel had moved in recent weeks to intensify a campaign against Mr. Zawahiri, second only to Osama bin Laden in the Al Qaeda hierarchy. Mr. Zawahiri, believed to be hiding near the Afghan-Pakistan border, has served as Al Qaeda's primary intermediary with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads Al Qaeda's efforts in Iraq. American officials believe that if Mr. Zawahiri is killed, he would not be easily replaced. President Musharraf addressed the nation on television on Tuesday night, yet in an hour and a half speech did not mention the American airstrikes. He spoke instead on various pressing national issues, like criticism of government relief for victims of the earthquake in October. The information minister, Sheik Rashid Ahmed, in a briefing to journalists in Islamabad, insisted that Pakistan had played no role in the attack, and despite its support for American in the war against terror, had not provided any intelligence in this case. "We have an understanding, and we support them, but in this incident no intelligence was given," he said. "The loss of life is regrettable," he said. "Pakistan is committed to the elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations but our sovereignty should also be respected." For its part, the White House said the United States would continue to work with Pakistan to hunt down members of Al Qaeda, despite protests over the airstrike. Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, expressed no regret for the attack, saying the United States would continue to "work closely with Pakistan and others to go after Al Qaeda and bring their leaders to justice." "Al Qaeda continues to seek to do harm to the American people," Mr. McClellan said. "There are leaders who we continue to pursue, and we will bring them to justice. The American people expect us to do so, and that's what this president is committed to doing." In television interviews over the weekend, a Republican and a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee defended the raid, while Pakistan's ambassador to the United States questioned whether it had should have been carried out. Jehangir Karamat, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said Monday on Fox News that "to my knowledge there was no prior notification" from the United States to Pakistan about the particular raid. Still at issue, Mr. Karamat said, was "whether this strike should have been carried on our side of the border, and whether there was enough intelligence, accurate intelligence, to warrant this strike." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Tourists for sure. They were eager to see the Bamiyan Buddha blast craters but took a wrong turn at Al-Kandahar. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-01-18 18:00 |
| #3 one other beneficial result from the airstrike: Mahmood: do you want to go out for dinner tonight Mr. Zawahiri? Zawahiri: no, don't think so, the very idea even puts me off my feed. Mahmood: can i fix you something? Zawahiri: i guess. Mahmood: another can of cave soup? Zawahiri: *sigh* |
| Posted by: RD 2006-01-18 11:42 |
| #2 tourists, I'm sure.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-18 10:10 |
| #1 Egyptians?!? Could they be related to Mohammad Atef, Osama's Egyptian friend who got zapped by a Predator early on in Operation Enduring Freedom? |
| Posted by: The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2006-01-18 09:24 |