ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The US military apparently struck at Islamic militants outside Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt for the first time Wednesday, firing a missile that killed six suspected insurgents taking refuge away from the conflict zone along the Afghan border.
The government denounced Wednesday’s attack as yet another ‘grave provocation’ amid a series of US military operations in the country that have enflamed widespread anger among ordinary Pakistanis.
The harsh words were a sharp contrast to comments Tuesday by US and NATO officials who reported increased cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against militant groups. Tens of thousands of US and NATO troops are stationed in neighboring Afghanistan.
‘It looks like the Americans are not listening, but this is such a great provocation that it will bring a strong response from the government of Pakistan that will dissuade them,’ presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said of the latest missile strike.
He declined to say what the response would be.
The government, which relies heavily on US financial aid, has not gone beyond criticizing raids. Some experts question whether the leadership secretly condones the attacks while speaking out publicly against them, but the government denies that.
Although many militants have died in the US strikes, Pakistani leaders have repeatedly called for a halt, saying the raids also often kill civilians and undercut public support for their own war against the extremists.
The United States has staged some 20 missile strikes and at least one commando assault inside Pakistan since August, a barrage seen as a sign of Washington’s frustration with the inability of its nuclear-armed ally to curb militants blamed for rising attacks in Afghanistan.
All the previous attacks had come in North and South Waziristan, semiautonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. But Wednesday’s attack blew up a house in Indi Khel, a village in the Bannu district about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Afghan border and beyond the tribal region.
The identities of those killed were still being investigated, but a senior military officer said ‘the Americans are very confident’ an Al Qaeda member identified as Abdullah Azam Al Saudi was among the victims. He did not elaborate.
Earlier, two Pakistani intelligence officials said their agents reported that militants from Central Asia were believed to be among the six dead.
All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Villagers denied any militants were among the dead, but they declined to discuss the identity of the victims. ‘Go!’ one man shouted at a cameraman who pressed for details while shooting footage obtained by AP Television News.
Adnan Khan Wazir, a Bannu lawmaker, also insisted that only civilians died.
While Bannu is inland from the frontier tribal areas, it is still a dangerous place, and it falls under the control of the regional government _ making the attack especially sensitive.
A large Islamist political party threatened to block two major Pakistani roads used to truck supplies to US and NATO troops in Afghanistan unless the cross-border attacks stop.
‘If these missiles attacks continue, then we will ask the people to create hurdles in the way of supplies for NATO,’ said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, which has shown it can mobilize thousands of supporters at short notice.
The US rarely confirms or denies involvement in strikes inside Pakistan, which are believed to be carried out mainly by unmanned CIA drones flown from across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has little leverage to force the US to stop the attacks, analysts say. Pakistan receives millions in US military and development aid each year and is about to receive an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund to bolster the economy.
Some analysts have speculated the government has a secret agreement with Washington that allows the attacks on condition that US officials do not admit to them. Zardari and other Pakistani officials strongly deny that.
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