Saturday, January 14, 2006
News RhetIraq: US Bombing in Pakistan
Source: Associated Press via USA Today
Quotes: From article titled, "Al-Qaeda No. 2 wasn't on site during U.S. attack, officials say"
DAMADOLA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday condemned a deadly airstrike in which the U.S. reportedly targeted al-Qaeda's second-in-command, as villagers whose homes were destroyed denied the militant was ever there and thousands of Pakistanis protested the attack.
The statement came after U.S. networks, citing unnamed American intelligence officials, reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike Friday and that it was aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed did not directly blame the U.S. for the attack, which killed at least 17 people, but he said the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur."
Two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press on Saturday that the CIA had acted on incorrect information, and al-Zawahri was not in the village of Damadola when it came under attack.
An AP reporter who visited the scene in Damadola village about 12 hours after the airstrike saw three destroyed houses hundreds of yards apart. Villagers recounted hearing aircraft overhead moments before the attack. By their count at least 30 people died, including women and children.
The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan, unexplained by authorities but widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants.
Quotes: From article titled, "Al-Qaeda No. 2 wasn't on site during U.S. attack, officials say"
DAMADOLA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday condemned a deadly airstrike in which the U.S. reportedly targeted al-Qaeda's second-in-command, as villagers whose homes were destroyed denied the militant was ever there and thousands of Pakistanis protested the attack.
The statement came after U.S. networks, citing unnamed American intelligence officials, reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike Friday and that it was aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed did not directly blame the U.S. for the attack, which killed at least 17 people, but he said the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur."
Two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press on Saturday that the CIA had acted on incorrect information, and al-Zawahri was not in the village of Damadola when it came under attack.
An AP reporter who visited the scene in Damadola village about 12 hours after the airstrike saw three destroyed houses hundreds of yards apart. Villagers recounted hearing aircraft overhead moments before the attack. By their count at least 30 people died, including women and children.
The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan, unexplained by authorities but widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants.
