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Senior officials deny Pakistan missile strike
Islamabad (AFP) March 26, 2009 Senior officials in Pakistan on Thursday denied there had been a suspected US missile strike in the northwest said to have killed four militants. The officials rejected earlier reports from local officials of a missile strike overnight in North Waziristan, a tribal area which is semi-autonomous from the Pakistan government. "There was no missile strike," said Habibullah Khan, a top official in the semi-autonomous administration of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which have become a virtual safe haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. Two senior security officials, who declined to be named, also denied there had been a missile strike but declined to speak on the record. Local officials earlier said a suspected US pilot-less plane had fired two missiles on the compound of a pro-militant tribal elder, killing four people. Residents in the area said they had heard an explosion in a house, but witnesses had no details about any possible casualties or bodies. US missile strikes have angered many across Pakistan and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari has called them a violation of the country's sovereignty. But the Washington Post newspaper reported in November that there was a deal between Pakistan and the United States for the strikes to be continued while being criticised in public by Islamabad. More than 35 such strikes have killed more than 340 people since August 2008, shortly before Zardari was elected. A suspected US strike Wednesday killed up to seven alleged militants in a Taliban stronghold. The US military as a rule does not confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in neighbouring Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Washington is planning new drone attacks on militant targets in Pakistan as part of its overall review of strategy against Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Washington (AFP) March 26, 2009Operatives in Pakistan's military intelligence agency provide cash, supplies and strategic advice to militants in Afghanistan where the United States is fighting a resurgent Taliban, the New York Times said Thursday. |
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