  
| 
| ||||||||||||||
Pakistan protests airstrike18 killed, but al Qaeda No. 2 man apparently not among them
 Intelligence earlier suggested Ayman al-Zawahiri may have been killed in a CIA airstrike in Pakistan. RELATED
QUICKVOTE(CNN) -- Pakistan 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, bin Laden's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Hundreds of residents chanted anti-American slogans Saturday near the targeted village of Damadola. 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." Al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not killed in a CIA airstrike Friday on Damadola, according to a Pakistani intelligence official. U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of the strike and initially reported that he may have been among the 18 people 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 on Friday. A statement by the Pakistan Foreign Office statement 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 summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the attack.(Watch Pakistan take a stand against what it says is improper CIA conduct -- 3:21) "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 they (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. "If we receive a request we will assist," spokesman Richard Kolko said. Some people from Damadola said no foreigners were present or killed in Friday's 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 celebrationBut 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 belonged to outsiders, Reuters reported. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister, said that the U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, was being summoned and a strong protest would be made. "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 forceConsidered 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. Egyptian-born Rabia was described as al Qaeda's operations chief and No. 3 man. -- CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
|
| ||||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
