Pakistan condemns US missile strikes in border region

Foreign Ministry sees undermining of war on terror

ISLAMABAD - US missile attacks on suspected militants in Pakistan's northwest near Afghanistan are undermining the war on terror and helping the terrorists, the Muslim nation's Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The comments were made as a suicide bomber attacked an anti-insurgent group in a northwest tribal area, killing at least 22 people and wounding about 100. The Orakzai area tribesmen had gathered to plan the demolition of a militant base.

Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have established bases throughout Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal regions, where they are reported to have planned attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, as well as inciting violence in Pakistan.

Washington has pushed Pakistan to eliminate such insurgent sanctuaries.

Pakistan has carried out military offensives against insurgents while also trying to woo various tribes to turn against the extremists. Some pro-government tribes have set up militias to fight insurgents.

But in a sign of US impatience with Pakistani efforts, US forces have stepped up their own cross-border assaults on alleged militant targets.

The United States is suspected of at least 11 missile strikes on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border since mid-August, killing more than 100 people, most of them alleged militants, according to an Associated Press count based on figures provided by Pakistan intelligence officials. The United States rarely confirms or denies the attacks, which Pakistan's military and civilian leaders have criticized as violations of the country's sovereignty.

"We want them [the United States] to realize that these attacks are destabilizing the situation, and they are not helping them or Pakistan," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said. "They are helping the terrorists."

The strikes are unpopular among many Pakistanis and used by critics and Muslim conservatives to rally opposition to the country's pro-US government.

Yesterday's suicide attack occurred in Orakzai, a tribal region near the main northwest city of Peshawar, which has been relatively peaceful.