Peshawar, Pakistan – Pakistani provincial authorities said Tuesday that four or five foreign terrorists were killed in the purported U.S. missile strike that has severely strained relations with this Muslim nation, a key ally in President Bush’s war on terrorism.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, on the eve of a trip to Washington, said that despite the importance of ties with the United States, attacks inside Pakistan “cannot be condoned.”
“Pakistan has committed to fighting terrorism, but naturally we cannot accept any action within our country which results in what happened over the weekend,” Aziz said, referring to the missile strike Friday in the border village of Damadola.
Eighteen residents, including women and children, were also killed in the strike, the provincial government said Tuesday.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said the target of the attack was al-Qaeda’s No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, who they said was invited to a dinner celebrating an Islamic holiday in the village but sent aides instead.
U.S. counterterrorism officials, however, have not ruled out that Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant was killed.
In the first official confirmation by Pakistani authorities that militants were killed, the administration of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan said in a statement that the four or five bodies of “foreign terrorists” were taken away “by their companions.”
