Pakistani tribal area hit; 20 reported dead
Witnesses said a drone fired a missile that destroyed a suspected militant safe house near the Afghan border.
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - Missiles that witnesses say came from an unmanned drone flattened a suspected militant safe house yesterday in Pakistan's tribal area along the Afghan border. State television said the strike killed about 20 people.
Witnesses said a drone dropped seven missiles on the sprawling mud-brick compound about three miles outside Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. Only U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are known to operate unmanned drones in the region, and they have launched attacks over the Pakistani border before.
Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding out in the rugged, lawless tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
Anger over U.S. attacks on militants in the area, which often have tacit approval from President Pervez Musharraf's regime, helped carry his opponents to victory in parliamentary elections last month. The new parliament convenes today.
Many Pakistanis believe Musharraf's friendship with the United States and tactics in fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants have only fueled terrorism at home.
Witnesses, state TV and intelligence officials said the destroyed building belonged to a local militant leader and Taliban sympathizer who goes by the name Noorullah. It was unclear if he was killed. Rahim Khan, a local tribesman, said the huge, fortress-like compound was known as a hub for visiting foreign militants. Eight of those killed were foreigners.
Maj. Chris Belcher, a U.S. military spokesman, said coalition forces conducted an operation yesterday just across the border in Afghanistan's Paktika province. He said he had no information about the Pakistan strike and doubted the two incidents were related.
Washington has pressed Pakistan to crack down on Islamic militants who harbor al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters along the country's border with Afghanistan.
Many Pakistanis, however, believe Musharraf's approach to fighting militants has hurt the nation since 2001. His popularity has plummeted amid an ailing economy and domestic terrorism on the rise.
After the latest attack in Islamabad, police fanned out yesterday, and foreign embassies scrutinized their security. A bomb struck an Italian restaurant popular with foreigners on Saturday, killing a Turkish aid worker and wounding at least 12 people, including U.S. and British embassy personnel.
Saturday's attack was the first in Pakistan's quiet capital in several months and the first targeting foreigners here in more than a year.
Followers of two opposition leaders and former Pakistani prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, won the most parliamentary seats in the Feb. 18 elections and are expected to name a candidate for prime minister this week. The winning parties have said that drafting a new counterterrorism strategy was a top priority under a new coalition government. Bhutto returned from exile last year and was killed in an attack 70 days later.