PAR QAMBARKHEL, Pakistan (AFP) — An explosion ripped through the house of a leading Pakistani militant on Monday, killing six people, as troops extended an anti-insurgent offensive in the Khyber tribal district.
Militant chief Haji Namdar, who survived, and a security official said the house was destroyed by military action but the government said troops had not opened fire on the building.
The deaths came a day after the government said the three-day-old operation had saved the northwestern city of Peshawar from rebel advances and protected the main supply route for international forces in Afghanistan.
An AFP photographer saw six coffins lined up outside the rubble of the house of Namdar, who heads a group seeking Taliban-style Islamic laws.
"It looked like a guided missile strike. It could have been the work of both Pakistani and NATO forces (in nearby Afghanistan). We will take revenge," Namdar told AFP at the scene in the Par Qambarkhel area, near Bara, the main town in Khyber and about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from the Afghan border.
The top administrative official in Khyber said in a statement that the blast killed five people and wounded three, adding that a bomb disposal team was at the site.
"An enquiry is being conducted to ascertain the actual facts of the explosion as our security forces have not fired on the said building," the statement said.
But a senior Pakistani security official told AFP earlier that the destruction of the house "was part of the ongoing operation. Our ground forces were involved."
Previous unexplained blasts in Pakistan's tribal belt have variously been attributed to explosives stored in militant hideouts and to missile strikes by international forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistani troops destroyed the house of Mangal Bagh, the leader of the hardline Lashkar-e-Islam group, on Saturday in Bara. They also demolished the headquarters of a separate group early Sunday.
Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Sunday that the operation had been a success in tackling Islamist groups responsible for terrorising residents in Peshawar with a vigilante-style campaign.
But residents said most of the militants active in the region had moved to a region nearer the border with Afghanistan.
The operation has raised fears of further unrest, with Taliban rebels saying on Sunday that they had halted all peace deals with the government and an unexplained loud blasting sound causing panic in Islamabad on Monday.
Police and the military said after the noise was heard that there was no evidence of any attack in Islamabad or neighbouring Rawalpindi, the home of the Pakistani army.
Similar false alarms in the capital have been caused by sonic booms from military aircraft and quarry blasting in Rawalpindi.
Meanwhile a top US diplomat arrived in Islamabad for talks with the new government, following concerns in Washington over Pakistan's negotiations with militant groups.
Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other senior officials, television channels showed.
Details of the talks were not available.
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