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=**Pakistan condemns US air strike that killed 18 "innocent people"**=


 * Amir Mir**


 * DNA India, Sunday, January 15, 2006 01:04 IST**

ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move, Pakistan’s foreign office summoned US Ambassador in Islamabad Ryan C Crocker on Saturday and lodged an official protest at the death of 18 “innocent Pakistani people” in an air strike on Friday in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The attack in the Bajaur area was apparently carried out by the CIA, and aimed at al-Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, Egyptian doctor-turned-terrorist mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri. But by evening Islamabad said he was not among the casualties.

Spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said the foreign office summoned Crocker to lodge a protest against the attack. “The tragic incident is being investigated,” she said.

Preliminary reports said there was some “foreign presence” in the area, which was targeted by missiles from Afghanistan. “Subsequently, there has been loss of innocent civilian lives,” Tasneem said.

“We have already apprised the American ambassador of our grave concern over the repeated violation of Pakistani air and territorial space by Afghanistan-based, US-led coalition forces,” she said. “We also plan to take up this matter in the next meeting of the Tripartite Commission.”

In Washington, the government kept mum. The Pentagon, state department, National Security Council, and intelligence officials all said they have no information on the reports about Zawahiri.

Tasneem said Pakistan’s armed forces have undertaken “large-scale operations” against foreign militants in the country, and “it remains our responsibility to protect our people and territory from outside intrusion”.

Bajaur is one of seven ‘federally administered tribal areas’ along the Afghan frontier. These mountainous regions, home to six million inhabitants, have long been used as sanctuary by al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

On Saturday morning, America’s ABC Television claimed that a CIA-operated Predator drone carried out the missile strike. By evening Islamabad declared that Zawahiri was not among the casualties.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told DNA, “Investigations by Pakistani security have concluded that neither Dr al-Zawahiri nor Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar were in Damadola village. The US planes acted on wrong information while trying to target some top al-Qaeda leaders.” Meanwhile, sporadic protests broke out in the region against the attack. Tribesmen ransacked and torched an office of Associated Development Construction, a US-funded aid group, in Khar, a small town near Bajaur. No one was hurt.

With Uttara Choudhury in New York


 * From: http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1007621**