2 US missile attacks kill 6 near Afghan border

[April 13, 2011]  DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Two U.S. missile strikes killed six alleged Afghan Taliban fighters in a Pakistani tribal region Wednesday, intelligence officials said, just days after Pakistani authorities asked for greater limits on such attacks.

The drone-fired assaults in the South Waziristan tribal area, which borders Afghanistan, also were the first since a mid-March strike that Pakistan's army chief said took out dozens of peaceful tribesmen. A U.S. official denied innocent people were targeted.

The U.S. relies heavily on the covert, CIA-run missile program to kill al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Pakistan's northwest, and, aside from occasional lulls, it keeps up the attacks even when relations with Pakistan are more sour than usual. Pakistan publicly denounces the strikes, but secretly assists the program.

On Monday, Pakistan's spy chief, Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, met with CIA head Leon Panetta in Washington amid lingering tensions over the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by an American who turned out to be a CIA contractor.

Afterward, U.S. officials said that the Pakistanis had requested advance notice of the missile strikes aimed at militants in its tribal areas, and fewer strikes overall. The U.S. agency is considering the request for more information but sees other demands as nonstarters, as American officials believe factions in the Pakistani intelligence agency support Taliban and other militant groups, which are killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Wednesday's strikes used a total of seven missiles to hit a vehicle and a motorcycle in the forested Bhangar area of South Waziristan, the Pakistani officials on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.

The officials, who rely on information from field agents and informants, said the dead were Afghan Taliban fighters who sneaked across the border. But the information is nearly impossible to verify independently -- the area is remote, dangerous and access to it is legally restricted.

The U.S. rarely discusses the missile program publicly, but American officials have in the past described it as very successful in taking out top militants. Pakistani citizens hold a low opinion of the program, however, alleging numerous civilians end up killed or maimed by the attacks.

Most of the strikes land in North Waziristan, where several militant groups whose focus is battling Western forces in Afghanistan are based.

On March 17, a drone strike killed roughly three dozen people in the North Waziristan tribal area. Pakistani intelligence officials initially described the dead as militants, but later said at least 24 civilians from tribes asking the Taliban to mediate a dispute also died.

Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, issued a rare public statement in which he condemned the attack. Pakistan also summoned U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter in protest.

Earlier this week, Munter gave a speech in which he urged the two countries to move beyond the recent tensions.

Much of the effort to repair relations comes since the release of the American CIA contractor, Raymond Davis, who shot the two Pakistanis. The U.S. insisted Davis acted in self-defense against robbers and that he had diplomatic immunity. He was freed after relatives of his victims agreed to accept financial compensation.

[Associated Press; By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD]

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