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| Pakistani tribals seethe over airstrike on madrasa | | | Tue Oct 31, KHAR, Pakistan - More than 15,000 armed Pakistani tribesmen protested on Tuesday over a Pakistan Army helicopter attack on an al-Qaeda-linked religious school that killed around 80 suspected militants.
Chants of "Down with America" and "Down with Musharraf" rang out as the tribesmen gathered in Khar, main town in the Bajaur tribal region close to the Afghan border, in anger at the air strike.
"Our jihad (holy war) will continue and Inshallah (God willing), people will go to Afghanistan to oust American and British forces," Maulana Faqir Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric, told the crowd of turbaned tribals, many carrying Kalashnikovs and wearing bandoliers, and a few shouldering rocket launchers.
While the government claimed the madrasa school at Chenagai was being used to train militants, protesters said the dead, mostly young men aged between 15 and 25, were merely students.
President Pervez Musharraf, speaking at a seminar in Islamabad, said the army had killed militants.
"We were working on them for six or seven days, we know who they were. They were doing military training," Musharraf said.
Nowhere is Musharraf's alliance with the United States in a war on terrorism more unpopular than in the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border.
A mountainous region that is difficult to access, Bajaur lies across from the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, where U.S. troops are hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
HOTBED OF SUPPORT
Along with North and South Waziristan, Bajaur is regarded as a hotbed of support for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Thousands of fighters took refuge in the semi-autonomous tribal lands after U.S.-backed forces drove them from Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.
The tribesmen in Khar showed their loyalty with shouts of "Long Live Osama" and "Long Live Mullah Omar". Similar protests took place in other parts of North West Frontier Province.
A planned visit by Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to the NWFP capital of Peshawar on Tuesday was cancelled due to security concerns, as Islamists planned demonstrations.
The government had been trying to reach a pact in Bajaur similar to accords already brokered in Waziristan to end the militancy. The airstrike appeared to end hopes of a quick deal.
The U.S., British and Afghan governments have given cautious support to peace initiatives, but U.S. forces in Afghanistan have noted a sharp rise in insurgent activity since a truce was reached in North Waziristan a few months ago.
Islamist politicians said the attack on the school was really carried out by a U.S. Predator drone aircraft, and the Pakistani army was covering up its acquiescence by claiming responsibility.
DRONE REPORT DENIED
Pakistan and the U.S. military in Afghanistan denied a report by American television news channel ABC News that the drone fired on the madrasa, prompted by information that al Qaeda Number 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, might have been in the school.
Pakistan's military spokesman insisted, however, that the attack had been carried out by Pakistani army helicopters.
"The entire operation was carried out by our forces. All resources including intelligence was our own," Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.
The U.S. military in Afghanistan also denied involvement.
"I can assure you without doubt that the United States military in Afghanistan had nothing to do with that attack," spokesman Colonel Tom Collins said.
Last January, a CIA-operated Predator missile attack targeted Zawahri in Bajaur's Damadola village near the Afghan border. Intelligence officials said a handful of al Qaeda operatives were killed, but Zawahri was not present.
The Afghan government hailed the strike on the madrasa and hoped Pakistani forces would continue its militant crackdown.
"We welcome and support this act, and hope that this is the beginning of more such operations," Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told Reuters in Kabul.
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