Missile strike kills 9 in Pakistan

13/08/2008| IslamWeb

A missile strike on a suspected militant training camp near the Afghan border killed at least nine people, Pakistani military and intelligence officials said Wednesday.

At least four missiles struck a compound in a remote and mountainous area near Angor Ada in the South Waziristan tribal region late Tuesday, the officials told The Associated Press.

A military official said at least nine people have died but had no information on their identities.

Two intelligence officials said between 22 and 25 people died, including Arabs, Turkmen and Pakistani militants in what they believed was a U.S. missile strike launched from neighboring Afghanistan.

They said the camp is linked to the militant group of Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose followers are fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. They said it was not clear if the camp leader, an Afghan identified as Commander Zangeer, or senior militants were among the dead.

The intelligence officials said their information on the attack came from local informants.

A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan denied any involvement. U.S. 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said: "I've got no reports of any border incidents, any cross-border incidents, so it wasn't us."

Pakistan's army spokesman was not immediately available to comment. The other Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

Pakistan's tribal regions such as South Waziristan are believed to provide sanctuary for supporters of the pro-Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and al-Qaida.

Suspected U.S. missile strikes have killed at least two senior al-Qaida fighters inside Pakistan this year, including a renowned Egyptian explosives and poison expert, Abu Khabab al-Masri, who died in a strike in South Waziristan in late July.

PHOTO CAPTION

File photo shows soldiers from the Pakistani army on patrol near Wana, the mountain-fringed capital of South Waziristan.

AP