Pakistanis bury militant killed by US

[October 14, 2011]  LAKKI MARWAT, Pakistan (AP) -- A militant killed alongside a Haqqani network commander in a U.S missile strike was buried Friday in a ceremony in northwest Pakistan attended by 2,000 locals and supporters, including Arab militants and a lawmaker from the country's largest opposition party.

The size of the funeral indicated significant support in this region for fighters battling the American presence just across the border in Afghanistan. The Pashtun ethnic group that accounts for most of the resistance in Afghanistan straddles the frontier.

The missile attack in North Waziristan killed three people, with the main target being Janbaz Zadran, a top commander of the Haqqani network, which U.S. intelligence believes is the No. 1 threat in Afghanistan and enjoys the support of the Pakistani army.

The two other victims were buried Friday in Lakki Marwat, a Pashtun town close to North Waziristan.

An Associated Press reporter attended the funeral of one of them, Maulana Iftikhar. He was the head of an Islamic school in the North Waziristan town of Miran Shah, and hailed from Lakki Marwat. Locals said he was involved in "jihad" in Afghanistan.

"Maulana Iftikhar is a martyr and we warn America to immediately stop these drone attacks," said Ahmed Jan Qureshi, a local leader of the Islamist Jamiat Ulema Islam political party. "America should realize that these attacks are causing hate against it, and see these thousands of people who are here to attend funeral of a martyr."

Scores of armed men and some Arabs lined up to perform prayers. Also present was Munawar Khan, the town's local lawmaker and a member of the opposition party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He declined to speak to the AP.

The missile strike took place close to Miran Shah, the base of the Haqqani network and other militant groups fighting both the Pakistan state and in Afghanistan. There have been at least 50 such strikes this year, most of them in North Waziristan.

Pakistani intelligence officials said the senior Haqqani commander was also known as Jalil Haqqani.

U.S. officials said later he was called Janbaz Zadran, and was the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield. The officials said Zadran helped the Haqqani network orchestrate attacks on troops in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan.

U.S. intelligence considers the Haqqani network the No. 1 threat in Afghanistan, and says that it is supported by Pakistani security forces. Pakistan's refusal to sever those links and attack the group is a main source of tension between the two nominally allied countries.

Since 2008, the United States has regularly unleashed unmanned drone-fired missiles against militants in the border region. Pakistani officials protest the strikes, which are unpopular among many Pakistanis, but the country is believed to support them privately and makes no diplomatic or military efforts to stop them.

[Associated Press; By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD]

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