XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america, alt.conspira   
   y.america-at-war   
   XPost: us.politics   
   From: o@o.org   
      
   Summary: US terrorists led by radical christian extremist George Bush  have   
   blown up 17 Pakistani civilians in their latest murderous attack. The US   
   terrorist group is believed to be the CIA.   
      
   ==========================   
   U.S. air strike in Pakistan kills 17 civilians   
   Predator drone attack targeted Al Qaeda leadership; U.S. intelligence wrong,   
   Pakistani official says   
   Jan. 14, 2006. 07:30 AM   
   ASSOCIATED PRESS   
      
      
   DAMADOLA, Pakistan - A U.S. airstrike on a suspected Al Qaeda hideout in   
   Pakistan near the Afghan border that killed at least 17 people targeted the   
   terrorist network's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, but the suspect wasn't there,   
   Pakistani officials said today.   
      
   Citing unnamed American intelligence officials, U.S. networks reported it   
   was a CIA strike and that al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant,   
   could have been at a compound targeted in the attack early Friday or about   
   to arrive.   
      
   Two senior Pakistani officials told The Associated Press today that the CIA   
   had acted on incorrect information and al-Zawahri was not at the site of the   
   attack in the northwestern village of Damadola.   
      
   "Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they   
   acted on a false information," said a senior intelligence official who has   
   direct knowledge of the investigations launched by Pakistan to look into the   
   attacks. His account was confirmed by a senior government official, who said   
   al-Zawahri "was not there."   
      
   Pakistan's government was expected to formally issue its reaction later   
   today.   
      
   An AP reporter who visited the scene in Damadola village about 12 hours   
   after the attack saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart.   
   Villagers had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and   
   were digging for more bodies in the rubble.   
      
   There was no confirmation from either Islamabad or Washington on the reports   
   that al-Zawahri had been targeted, but a Pakistani intelligence official   
   said that the CIA had told Pakistani agents that they had targeted   
   al-Zawahri in the attack.   
      
   Villagers in Damadola denied hosting al-Zawahri or any other Al Qaeda or   
   Taliban figure, saying all the dead were local people. Today, more than   
   8,000 tribesmen staged a peaceful protest in a nearby town to condemn the   
   airstrike, which one speaker described as "open terrorism."   
      
   U.S. and Pakistani officials told NBC news that U.S. predator drones fired   
   as many as 10 missiles at the village in the Bajur tribal region of   
   northwestern Pakistan. ABC quoted anonymous Pakistani military sources as   
   saying al-Zawahri could have been among five top Al Qaeda officials believed   
   killed.   
      
   The second 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. He spoke on condition   
   of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.   
      
   The official added that hours before the strike some unidentified guests had   
   arrived at the home of one tribesman named Shah Zaman.   
      
   Zaman, whose home was destroyed but survived the attack, denied hosting any   
   terrorists and said no officials had taken bodies away.   
      
   "I don't know him (al-Zawahri). He was not at my home. No foreigner was at   
   my home when the planes came and dropped bombs," he said.   
      
   Local lawmaker Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid, who visited Damadola soon after   
   the attack, said the dead had already been buried, and claimed no foreigners   
   were among them. They came from a local family of jewellers, he said, adding   
   that none of the bodies had been burnt or charred beyond recognition that   
   would make identification difficult.   
      
   Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, 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, which lies about 200 kilometres northwest of the capital,   
   Islamabad, were under investigation. He gave no details.   
      
   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. The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan referred questions   
   to the Pakistan government.   
      
   Doctors told AP that at least 17 people died in the attack, but residents of   
   Damadola, a Pashtun tribal hamlet on a hillside about seven kilometres from   
   the Afghan border, said more than 30 had died.   
      
   They recounted hearing aircraft flying overhead before bombs or missiles   
   crashed through the village - blasts that were felt miles away.   
      
   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.   
      
   At another destroyed house, Sami Ullah, a 17-year-old student, said 24 of   
   his family members were killed and vowed he would "seek justice from God."   
      
   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.   
      
   Pakistan lodged a protest Monday with the U.S. military in Afghanistan after   
   a reported U.S. air strike killed eight people in the North Waziristan   
   tribal region last today. Pakistan says it does not allow U.S. forces to   
   cross the border in pursuit of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.   
      
   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, which he described as a hide-out for Arab   
   terrorists.   
      
   Al-Zawahri, who has a $25 million dollar US 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.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)