Pakistan says U.S. strike killed 4 or 5 terrorists

updated 1:24 a.m. ET Jan. 18, 2006

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Four or five foreign terrorists died in the purported U.S. airstrike aimed at al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader in a Pakistani border village, the provincial government said Tuesday.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, called Pakistan a valued ally in the war on terror Tuesday and pledged to continue pursuing al-Qaida leaders amid concerns the airstrike has strained ties between the two countries and could provoke more anti-American sentiment.

The statement issued by the administration of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan also said that between 10 and 12 foreign extremists had been invited to the dinner at the village hit in Friday’s attack.

It was the first official confirmation by Pakistani authorities that foreign militants were killed in the attack on the village of Damadola. Women and children also died, triggering outrage in this Islamic nation.

The statement did not identify who the foreigners may have been or who was the target of the missile strike.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, had been invited to a dinner in the targeted village of Damadola to mark an Islamic holiday but did not show up and sent some aides instead.

Fate of bodies unclear
There have been conflicting accounts from Pakistani officials and witnesses over who, if anyone, reclaimed bodies from the scene of the missile strike.

Damadola residents claim all the victims were locals and they buried them all. One Pakistani official told The Associated Press Saturday that the bodies had been taken away for DNA tests, although it wasn’t clear by whom.

The statement, citing the chief official in the Bajur region where the Damadola is located, said its findings were from a report compiled by a “joint investigation team” but gave no specifics on who was included in the team.

“Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack,” the statement said.

“It is regrettable that 18 local people lost their lives in the attack, but this fact also cannot be denied, that 10-12 foreign extremists had been invited on a dinner,” it said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said a compound that was hit has been visited in the past by significant terrorist figures. “There were strong indications that was happening again,” the official said, adding that it appeared that some damage was done, even if al-Zawahri was not there.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao would only say Tuesday there was a “possibility” that foreigners were killed in the strike, which destroyed three houses and killed 18 people.

He told AP the government had “no information” about the presence of al-Zawahri.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to discuss the attack on Tuesday but said “al-Qaida continues to seek to do harm to the American people.”

“There are leaders that we continue to pursue and we will bring them to justice. The American people expect us to do so and that’s what this president is committed to doing,” he told reporters in Washington.

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