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Missiles kill six on Pakistan border

Missiles hit a religious school in a village just inside Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan yesterday, killing six people, intelligence officials and state media said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the incident follows a series of strikes from unmanned US aircraft in recent months against militant leaders in Pakistan’s wild tribal belt.

It occurred hours before US President George W. Bush was to receive Pakistan’s prime minister at the White House amid mounting US and international pressure on Islamabad to act against Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds in its territory.

State-run Pakistan Television said the missiles hit Azam Warsak, a village in the South Waziristan region. It said six people were killed and several others injured.

PTV did not identify the source of its information or provide any other details.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said that the missiles hit an Islamic school in the village.

One of the officials, who is based in Tank, a town near South Waziristan, said initial reports indicated the six dead consisted of three children and three adults.

He said militants, including foreigners, were active in the area, but he did not know if they had been in the school at the time.

Both officials asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it could not comment because the incident was not confirmed. The army spokesman was not available for comment.

Pakistan’s border regions have been hit by a series of missile strikes, apparently carried out by US warplanes. One killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in the North Waziristan region in January.

The incidents have strained relations with Washington, particularly since a new Pakistani government took power nearly four months ago and sidelined stalwart US ally President Pervez Musharraf.

The government is seeking peace agreements in its mountainous border region in an attempt to curb Islamic extremists blamed for a wave of bloody suicide attacks across Pakistan last year.

NATO claims the resultant ceasefires are contributing to escalating violence in Afghanistan, while US officials warn that al-Qaeda leaders could be plotting another Sept. 11, 2001, style attack on the West.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was to meet Bush and other senior officials in Washington later yesterday, insisted in the past week that his government would use force only as a last resort.

The latest missile strike could complicate peace negotiations that were already in increasing doubt because of rising violence.

In another incident yesterday, police said a bicycle bomb killed a teenage boy and wounded 12 police officers in the northwestern city of Kohat.

Gilani’s preparations for the vital meetings in Washington have also been hampered by doubts about the competence of his government and his authority over the powerful army. Officials sowed confusion on Saturday by stating that the Interior Ministry had taken control of the country’s main intelligence agency — only to quickly retract the statement, saying it had been misunderstood.

The military-run Inter-Services Intelligence agency officially reports to the prime minister.
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