US strike killed foreign militants: Pakistan official

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Last Friday’s U.S. airstrike on a
Pakistani border village, which U.S. officials said was aimed
at al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, killed at least
four foreign militants but Zawahri was not among them, a senior
provincial official said on Tuesday.

Around 18 local people were killed in the attack, as well
as the foreign militants, and Pakistan has lodged a protest
with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker over the attack and loss of
life.

Pakistani officials say Zawahri was not present in Damadola
village early on Friday when missiles fired by CIA-operated
drone aircraft struck three houses.

But Fahim Wazir, Political Agent for the semi-autonomous
Bajaur tribal agency, issued a statement saying: “According to
the available information at least four to five foreign
elements had also been killed in the incident.”

At least 10 to 12 foreign militants had been invited to a
feast in Damadola, Wazir said. The bodies of the militants
killed by the missiles were taken away by their comrades “to
suppress the actual reason for the attack,” he said.

The CIA had been hoping Zawahri was among the dead, but
Pakistani intelligence officers say the Egyptian-born deputy to
Osama bin Laden had not turned up for the feast, although he
had been invited.

As political agent, Wazir is the top federal government
officer in the tribal agency.