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US strike killed foreign militants: Pakistan official

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 10:20 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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