U.S. Airstrike Targeted al-Qaida Hideout By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - An airstrike on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border may have targeted Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, a senior Pakistani official said Saturday. He said efforts were under way to determine if the elusive Ayman al-Zawahri or any other terror suspects were among at least 17 people killed.
Citing unnamed American intelligence officials, U.S. networks reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan.
An AP reporter who visited the scene in Damadola village about 12 hours later saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers, who denied any links to Taliban or al-Qaida militants, recounted hearing aircraft flying overhead before being bombarded by blasts felt miles away. By their count at least 30 people died, including women and children.
There was no confirmation from either Islamabad or Washington on the reports, but a senior Pakistani official told The Associated Press there was a "50-50 chance that some al-Qaida personality" was at one of the homes hit and that he had heard it could be al-Zawahri. He expected more information later Saturday.
ABC quoted anonymous Pakistani military sources as saying five top al-Qaida officials were believed killed. U.S. and Pakistani officials told NBC news that as many as 10 missiles were fired at the village, 125 miles northwest of the capital Islamabad.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official told AP the remains of some bodies had "quickly been removed" from Damadola after the strike and DNA tests were being conducted, but would not say by whom. Like the senior government official, he spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
He said that hours before the strike some unidentified guests had arrived at the home of a man named Shah Zaman. Zaman who survived the destruction of his home told AP he was a laborer and had no links with militants.
The spokesman for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, only said the explosions in the village were under investigation.
"I am not in a position to say yes or no," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told AP. "We know that media is reporting it, but we have no such information, or any details. We are still investigating this matter."
In Washington, Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence officials all said they had no information on the reports concerning al-Zawahri.
In Afghanistan, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody referred questions on the matter to the Pentagon.
Doctors told AP that at least 17 people died in the attack on Damadola, a Pashtun tribal hamlet on a hillside about four miles from the Afghan border.
But at one destroyed house, Sami Ullah, a 17-year-old student, said he alone lost 24 of his relatives. Five women were weeping nearby, cursing the attackers.
"My entire family was killed, and I don't know whom should I blame for it," Ullah said. "I only seek justice from God."
Speaking as he dug through the cement rubble of his home, Zaman said he heard planes at around 2:40 a.m. and then eight explosions. He said planes had been flying over the village for the last three or four days.
"I ran out and saw planes were dropping bombs," said Zaman, 40, who lost two sons and a daughter. "I saw my home being hit."
"I don't know who carried out this attack and why. We were needlessly attacked. We are law-abiding people," he said.
The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan, unexplained by authorities but widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants.
In Afghanistan, Mohammed Hasan, deputy police chief of Kunar province, which is opposite Bajur, said U.S. forces had for weeks been patrolling in airplanes along the rugged border.
Pakistan does not allow Afghan or the 20,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan to cross the border in pursuit of Taliban and al-Qaida believed to be hiding there. It maintains a sensitive alliance with the United States in its war on terror, which is opposed by many in this Islamic nation of 150 million people.
Al-Zawahri, who has a $25 million dollar U.S. bounty on his head, has appeared regularly over the Internet and in Arab media, encouraging Muslims to attack Americans and U.S. interests worldwide.
Like bin Laden, his whereabouts had been unknown since the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan began following the terror attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
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