Pakistan cites US intelligence in air raid

WASHINGTON -- A missile strike that killed close to 80 people at an Islamic school in Pakistan early yesterday was launched because of US intelligence reports that senior Al Qaeda figures were hiding there, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike generated angry protests by religious and tribal leaders, who accused the government of doing Washington's bidding at the cost of Pakistani lives.

The country's major Islamic party charged that US military planes carried out the attack, which demolished the school, located near the border with Afghanistan. Pakistani and US military officials denied that, saying the raid was the work of Pakistani helicopter gunships and forces, though US intelligence had prompted it.

"This was a training camp, and they had been warned to stop their activities," said General Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington. "They did not pay heed, so they were hit by our gunships and all the people there were killed. There will be a lot of unhappy or misguided people saying we are killing our own people for the sake of the Americans, but we had a commitment to fight terrorism on our soil, and we made a decision."

Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border region, home to fiercely independent tribal peoples. Afghan officials also say Pakistan's side of the border is serving as a sanctuary for newly aggressive Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

The attack, in the Bajaur tribal district near the village of Khar, caused the highest number of deaths of any single anti-extremist attack in Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, agreed to side with the United States to help overthrow the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

The raid on the Islamic studies school, known as a madrassa, seemed to represent an abrupt shift from the Musharraf government's recent policy of seeking peaceful negotiations with extremists in the border regions. In the past several months, two peace deals were signed in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan after sustained attacks there by the Pakistani military drew strong local opposition and caused heavy casualties on both sides.

A third such agreement was due to be signed in Bajaur this week, but it seemed almost certain to collapse now. Yesterday's events are bound to compound problems for Musharraf.

"What a stupid operation, just one day before an accord between the local Taliban and the government. It has killed the entire spirit and the peaceful atmosphere in the tribal areas," said Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khan, who heads one of two major religious parties in parliament. Protesters who turned out in many towns yesterday pledged to return to the streets today.

A similar strike occurred in January, when US missiles devastated a nearby compound that authorities believed Zawahri was visiting. Officials initially denied, then acknowledged, reports that a US drone had carried out the strike, which killed 18 people. The raid set off protests across Pakistan and forced the Musharraf government to publicly condemn the action.

Among those killed yesterday was Maulana Liaquat, an Islamic cleric allied with Al Qaeda.

Liaquat is believed to have hosted a dinner for Zawahri in January that led to the missile strike in Damadola village. At a mass funeral for Liaquat and followers yesterday, news agencies reported, thousands of armed men shouted, "Down with Musharraf! Down with Bush!"

Some religious politicians from the area rejected the official version of events, saying it bore similarities to the January attack.

"Exactly like Damadola, there was a big flare before a missile hit the madrassa with a huge bang. Several minutes later, Pakistan Army gunship helicopters appeared on the horizon firing aimlessly," said Sahibzada Haroon-ur Rashid, the local member of parliament from the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Rashid resigned from parliament in protest yesterday, as did another senior leader of the religious political alliance that controls North-West Frontier Province, near Afghanistan.

Until now, religious parties had maintained an uneasy alliance with Musharraf, and he often deferred to their demands.

Pakistani officials dismissed comparisons with the January attack. "I can say with 100 percent surety that our forces targeted the terrorist training facility," said the chief military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan.