Foreigners among six killed in Pakistan missile strike (Roundup)

Jul 28, 2008, 10:47 GMT

Islamabad - A suspected US missile strike Monday killed six people, including three foreigners, in Pakistan's north-western tribal region, officials said.

The predawn attack targeted a house in a village near the Azam Warsak area of the South Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan.

'Six people were killed and three others were wounded when multiple missiles hit the building at around 3:30 am,' a security official said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his job.

According to the official, three of the dead were believed to be foreign militants while the rest were local youths.

Some media reports said the stricken compound was a religious seminary run by a tribesman identified as Salat Khan. The building was also frequently used by Taliban fighters.

While it was not clear whether the missiles were fired from ground or aerial platforms, residents said the buzzing sound of US-operated pilotless Predator aircraft was heard before the explosions.

'The US spy planes have been circling over the area soon after midnight,' Gul Hassan, a local resident, said.

The attack came as Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was set to meet President George W Bush in Washington. The discussions are expected to focus on the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan and Islamabad's role as a frontline ally.

Pakistan's tribal areas are believed to be sanctuaries for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters staging cross-border attacks on international forces and Afghan government troops.

Islamabad is under growing pressure from the United States and other coalition partners to prevent the infiltration, which has reportedly increased since the new Pakistani government launched peace talks with militants earlier this year.

The United States has so far refrained from conducting operations against militants inside the tribal region, but launched several aerial attacks, some of which Pakistan's military owned up to, in order to contain public reprisals against the violation of the country's sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the acting commander of the United States Central Command, Martin E Dempsey, met Monday with Pakistan's military top brass in the garrison town of Rawalpindi to discuss the security situation in the region, especially the border areas.

In the meeting, the chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Tariq Majid opposed the engagement of targets by coalition and Afghan forces in the tribal region.

'Our sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected, any violation in this regard could be detrimental to bilateral relations,' a statement issued by the military's public relations directorate cited General Majid as saying.

The meeting had been scheduled before the latest strikes took place.

Also on Monday, one person was killed and around a dozen policemen were wounded when suspected Islamic militants struck a police vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb in the north-western town of Kohat, police said.