President Bush praised Pakistan's commitment to fighting the Taliban and other extremists along its deteriorating border with Afghanistan on Monday, only hours after an American missile strike destroyed a militant outpost in that region, killing six, according to administration and Pakistani officials. Mr. Bush, meeting with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the White House, sought to minimize the administration's concerns about Pakistan's willingness to fight extremists along its border with Afghanistan.
Senior American officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just three days ago, have publicly urged Pakistan to do more to deny safe havens to extremists and terrorists, like the one bombed on Monday.
With Mr. Gilani standing beside him on the South Lawn, Mr. Bush instead praised Pakistan as "a strong ally and a vibrant democracy" and expressed appreciation for "the prime minister's strong words against the extremists and terrorists."
"We talked about the need for us to make sure that the Afghan border is secure, as best as possible," Mr. Bush said before the two leaders began a private lunch. "Pakistan has made a very strong commitment to that."
The latest missile strike, however, underscored the increasing turmoil along that border. The strike, apparently carried out by an unpiloted drone, killed at least six people in a compound in Pakistan's tribal regions near the Afghan border Monday, including a senior Al Qaeda operative, residents and officials in the area said.
The missile strike was one of several in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas this year that have been aimed at Al Qaeda members. One Pakistani security official and a resident in the area said the attack might have killed a trainer and weapons expert known as Abu Khabab al-Misri, though there was no confirmation of that. The same expert was reported killed in a similar raid in January 2006.
A spokesman of the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington, Carl Kropf, declined to comment on the missile strike. Another American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities of attacking targets in Pakistan, said if that Qaeda expert had been killed in the attack -- and officials were still awaiting confirmation -- it would deal Al Qaeda a significant blow. "This guy is one of their absolute key specialists in poisons and explosives," said the official. "He was also a key trainer of people involved in operations inside and outside the tribal areas."