Thousands of gun-wielding Pakistani tribesmen chanting "Death to Bush" protested yesterday against a deadly air raid on an al-Qaeda-linked religious school in which 80 people were killed.
The show of anger came ahead of rallies called by radical Islamic leaders, triggering security fears that forced Britain's Prince Charles to cancel a key part of his visit to Pakistan.
Around 15,000 bearded men wearing turbans burned effigies of US President George W. Bush and shouted "Death to Musharraf" in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, a correspondent said.
The military said Monday's pre-dawn helicopter attack, the deadliest in Pakistan's history, targeted a hardline Islamic school or madrassa that doubled as an al-Qaeda-linked camp.
President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in Bush's "war on terror," told a seminar in Islamabad that the dead were all insurgents.
"They were all militants using weapons, doing military training within the compound. We were watching them for the last six or seven days -- we knew exactly who they are, what they are doing," he said.
But radical Islamic clerics told the mass rally at Khar, the main town in rugged Bajaur, that all those who died were young students, and vowed revenge.
"We are ready for suicide attacks against the enemy," said one of the clerics, Inayatul Rehman.
The meeting place was ringed by masked men wielding Kalashnikovs and ammunition belts. No government security forces could be seen in the area, and most of the protesters wore black armbands.
Leaders in this pocket of support for al-Qaeda and the Taliban accused US forces of either ordering the strike on the madrasah or of actually carrying out the raid using Predator drones.
Officials say Bajaur is a hotspot for militants fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was targeted in a failed CIA missile strike here in January.
Among those killed in Monday's raid was Maulvi Liaqat, a local Taliban commander who ran the madrasah and who is known to be a close associate of Zawahiri, security officials said.
Locals were still digging through the rubble of the concrete-walled compound yesterday to check for any more human remains. The rest of the victims were buried at a mass funeral on Monday.
Authorities closed all routes to the mountain-fringed town and barred entry to Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of Pakistan's biggest coalition of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA -- United Action Front).
Another 5,000 tribesmen rallied in Landi Kotal, the main town of the nearby Khyber tribal area, blaming Musharraf for the "bloodshed of innocent tribesmen," witnesses said.
Smaller protests took place in several cities including nearby Peshawar, obliging Charles and his wife, Camilla, to scrap a planned visit there.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from