WORLD / Asia-Pacific
Militants blame US for Pakistan strike
Updated: 2006-10-31 08:42
Tribesmen gather near the bodies of those killed during a Pakistan army
air strike in Chenagai, 10 km (six miles) north of Khar, the main town in
the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan October 30, 2006. [Reuters]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani helicopter gunships on Monday destroyed a
religious school the military said was fronting as an al-Qaida training
camp, killing 80 people in the country's deadliest military operation
targeting suspected terrorists.
Islamic leaders and al-Qaida-linked militants blamed the United States
for the airstrike and called for nationwide demonstrations to condemn the
attack that flattened the school -- known as a madrassa -- and ripped
apart those inside. Furious villagers and religious leaders said the
pre-dawn missile barrage killed innocent students and teachers.
US and Pakistani military officials denied American involvement.
Among those killed in the attack in the remote northwestern village of
Chingai, two miles from the Afghan border, was a cleric who had sheltered
militants in the past and was believed associated with al-Qaida's No. 2
leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
The raid threatens efforts by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to persuade
deeply conservative tribespeople to back his government over pro-Taliban
and al-Qaida fighters, who enjoy strong support in many semiautonomous
regions in northern Pakistan. The planned signing of a peace deal between
tribal leaders and the military was canceled Monday in response to the
airstrike.
Musharraf has been under intense pressure, particularly from the United
States and Afghanistan, to rein in militant groups, particularly along
the porous Pakistan-Afghan frontier, where Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahri
are believed to be hiding. The Pakistani leader, along with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, met with President Bush in Washington last month
to address the issue.
Protests were held from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the southern
city of Karachi, the largest taking place in Chingai and the Bajur
district's main town of Khar, where 2,000 tribesmen and shopkeepers
chanted "Death to Musharraf! Death to Bush!"
Amid fears of unrest, Britain's Prince Charles, who arrived in Pakistan
on Sunday for a five-day stay, canceled a visit planned for Tuesday to
Peshawar.
The raid was launched after the madrassa's leaders, headed by cleric
Liaquat Hussain, rejected government warnings to stop using the school as
a training camp for terrorists, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat
Sultan.
"These militants were involved in actions inside Pakistan and probably in
Afghanistan," Sultan told The Associated Press.
Militant groups in Bajur are believed to ferry fighters, weapons and
supplies to Afghanistan to target US forces there and Pakistani soldiers
on this side of the ethnic-Pashtun majority tribal belt.
Sultan said 80 people were killed in the building, which was 100 yards
from the nearest house. Local political officials and Islamic leaders
corroborated the death toll.
Sultan denied reports that al-Zawahri was in the area at the time of the
attack. "It is all wrong, speculative and we launched this operation on
our own to target a training facility," he said. A Bajur-area
intelligence official said word was spreading among residents that
al-Zawahri may have been expected at the madrassa, but he said the
reports were wrong.
Hussain, the cleric believed to have been a deputy of al-Zawahri, was
among those killed, the intelligence official and residents said.
Another al-Zawahri lieutenant, Faqir Mohammed, apparently left the
madrassa 30 minutes before the strike, according to the official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the
media.
Hours later, Mohammed addressed 10,000 mourners at a funeral for some of
the victims.
"We were peaceful, but the government attacked and killed our innocent
people on orders from America," said Mohammed, who was surrounded by
dozens of militants brandishing semiautomatic weapons. "It is an open
aggression."
Three funerals were held one after the other in a field near the
madrassa, where the remains of at least 50 people were laid on wooden
beds placed side by side in rows and covered with colored blankets.
Villagers walked among the beds and offered prayers. One man strode
through the crowd holding aloft -- trophy-style -- a severed, blackened
hand. Militants, their faces covered with brown and red scarves,
patrolled the crowd.
On Saturday, Mohammed led a nearby rally of 5,000 pro-Taliban and
al-Qaida militants where he denounced the Pakistani and US governments
and praised bin Laden.
Fears are high that the attack will fan unrest across Pakistan, which
witnessed violent protests this year after European newspapers published
cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, as well as the August killing of a
ethnic-Baluch tribal chief in another Pakistani military raid.
In Islamabad, Pakistan's most influential Islamist political leader
blamed American forces for the attack, without providing evidence to
support his claim, and called for protests Tuesday.
"It was an American plane behind the attack and Pakistan is taking
responsibility because they know there would be a civil war if the
American responsibility was known," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of a
six-party religious alliance opposed to Musharraf.
Ahmed claimed that 30 children were among Monday's dead. But Sultan, the
army spokesman, said no children or women were killed and rejected
suggestions of US or NATO involvement. Most victims' bodies were so
mangled that positive identification was impossible.
The US military also denied involvement.
"It was completely done by the Pakistani military," US military spokesman
Maj. Matt Hackathorn said in Afghanistan.
The attack happened about two miles from Damadola, where in January a US
Predator drone aircraft fired a missile that purportedly targeted -- and
missed -- al-Zawahri, but killed several al-Qaida members and civilians
instead.
Thousands of tribespeople traveled from nearby villages to inspect
Chingai's destroyed madrassa, many wailing and others chanting "Long live
Islam." The blast leveled the building, tearing mattresses and scattering
Islamic books, including copies of the Quran.
"We heard helicopters flying in and then heard bombs," said one villager,
Haji Youssef. "We were all saddened by what we have seen."
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