CNN.com - Pakistan protests airstrike

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Residents of a nearby village gather Saturday to protest against the airstrike on Domadala.

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LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Thousands of people turned out in cities across the country Sunday to demonstrate against Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the United States in the wake of a U.S. airstrike that killed 18 people on Friday, as Pakistani parties called for more demonstrations.

Gatherings were taking place in cities including Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi and were set to continue all day.

Pakistan's foreign ministry has protested to the United States over an airstrike on a remote village near the Afghan border that killed 18 people but apparently missed its target, Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Hundreds of residents chanted anti-American slogans Saturday near the targeted village of Damadola.

In Bajour agency, the district including Damadola, tribal leaders said their protest will continue for three days and that shops in the district will be closed.

Pakistan's religious party alliance, MMA, called for protests. They were joined by MQM (Mutihada Qaumi Movement), a key alliance party in Musharraf's government which has several federal ministers in the Cabinet.

Many of the protesters are angry at Musharraf because they believe he is not doing enough to prevent U.S. actions such as the airstrike.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said Saturday it lodged a protest with the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, and the issue is being "thoroughly investigated."

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister, called the attack "highly condemnable."

According to a Pakistani intelligence official, al-Zawahiri -- bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not killed in the CIA-ordered airstrike on Damadola.

U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of the strike and initially reported that he may have been among those killed.

The Pakistani intelligence official said it was not known whether al-Zawahiri was in the area.

The attack killed eight men, five women and five children, Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN. Three homes were targeted.

The Pentagon and the White House declined to comment on initial reports of the airstrike.

A statement by the Pakistan Foreign Office on Saturday said a preliminary investigation shows "there was foreign presence in the area and that in all probability was targeted from across the border in Afghanistan."

"As a result of this act there has been loss of innocent civilian lives which we condemn. The investigations are still continuing."

"Pakistan will also take up this matter in the next meeting of the Tripartite Commission," the statement read. The commission is made up of senior military and diplomatic representatives from coalition forces, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Associated Press quoted a senior Pakistani intelligence official as saying "our investigations conclude that (the CIA) acted on false information."

Reuters also quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying: "Al-Zawahiri was not there at the time of the attack."

Al Arabiya satellite television said Saturday al-Zawahiri was alive, quoting an unidentified source it said had contact with al Qaeda, Reuters reported.

But U.S. sources familiar with the operation said it was too early to determine al-Zawahiri's fate, according to Reuters.

"We are conducting tests to identify the bodies," one intelligence official said.

The FBI is offering to help examine DNA samples from the bodies, but the agency has yet to receive a formal request.

Some people from Damadola said no foreigners were present or killed in the attack, Reuters reported.

"I know all the 18 people killed. There was neither Zawahiri nor any other Arab among them. Rather they were all poor people of the area," Haroon Rashid, the area's National Assembly representative, was quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press news agency as saying.

Festival celebration

But other residents of Damadola said some visitors had come from Afghanistan to celebrate the Eid al-Adha festival, and one said he saw two bodies he believed were outsiders, Reuters reported.

Sheikh Ahmed said: "While this act is highly condemnable, we have for a long time been striving to rid all our tribal areas of foreign intruders who have been responsible for all the violence and misery in the region. This situation has to be brought to an end."

He added that it "is also the responsibility of the people in the areas to fully cooperate.'"

U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan have long been concerned about foreign fighters taking refuge in neighboring Pakistan.

The Foreign Office statement said Pakistan's armed forces "have undertaken a large-scale operation against the foreign militants and it remains our responsibility to protect our people and territory from outside intrusion."

The strike came a week after the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera aired a new videotape with a message from al-Zawahiri, in which he called on U.S. President George W. Bush to admit defeat in Iraq.

U.S. authorities believe al-Zawahiri, 54, a doctor from a prominent Egyptian family, helped mastermind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He has also been indicted in the United States for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The U.S. government has put up a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.

While bin Laden himself hasn't been heard from since October 2004, last week's videotape was the fifth message from al-Zawahiri released over the past year, including several claiming responsibility for the July attacks on London's transit system.

Driving force

Considered the intellectual and ideological driving force behind al Qaeda, al-Zawahiri has been associated with bin Laden since at least 1987, when they first met in Pakistan. He is also believed to act as bin Laden's personal physician.

In 1998, al-Zawahiri merged his own Islamic militant group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, into bin Laden's organization.

Three months after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. forces attacked al-Zawahiri's residence in Afghanistan, killing his wife and children.

In March 2004, Pakistani troops launched an assault on an area in Waziristan province where intelligence indicated al-Zawahiri was hiding, but he was not captured.

Last month, Pakistani officials confirmed the death of a top al Qaeda official, Abu Hamza Rabia, who was killed in an explosion December 1 north of the border town of Miram Shah (Full story).

But witnesses gave conflicting accounts of how he died. Villagers said he was killed in a missile strike, while Pakistan officials said he died while working with explosives.

Pakistan protests airstrike

18 killed, but al Qaeda No. 2 man apparently not among them

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