Pakistani militants accuse US of missile attack
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani militants on Thursday accused the United States of carrying out a missile strike in the country's lawless tribal region and vowed to avenge the attack, which killed several people.
Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said a house belonging to a local tribesman was hit on Wednesday by a guided missile fired from a US drone.
It left seven people dead, including three children, and six others wounded, he said in phone calls to reporters from an undisclosed location.
Omar said there were no Taliban leaders in the targeted area.
The attack came as Taliban in the tribal region negotiate a deal with the new Pakistani government which came to power after the defeat of US ally President Pervez Musharraf's supporters in February elections.
"The missile attack was an attempt to sabotage the talks," Omar said. "Americans do not want peace in the region."
He added that "talks would continue despite the missile attack", but warned the Taliban would avenge the killings.
"We have taken revenge for our martyrs in the past and we will take revenge now also," he said.
A Pakistani security official previously said two missiles apparently fired from a drone hit a house used by suspected Al-Qaeda linked militants.
"We have reports that the missile strike killed at least 12 militants including some foreigners," the official, who declined to be identified, told AFP late Wednesday.
The missile struck in Damadola, a town in the Bajaur district bordering Afghanistan, the official said.
Pakistani military however said it was was unaware of any missile strike.
"We have no information about the strike," Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. He said the army was not in the area.
Missile attacks in the past have claimed the lives of several militants in Pakistan's volatile tribal belt.
A US Predator drone targeted Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Damadola in 2006, killing several rebels but missing him.
Pakistan this week moved troops away from villages and towns in the region as the peace process advanced, officials said Wednesday.
As part of the process, more than 30 tribesmen held in prison were freed Tuesday in return for the release of a dozen soldiers held by militants, a security official said.
