ISLAMABAD, 14 January 2006 — Eighteen people were killed yesterday when a house was hit by missiles in Pakistan’s Bajour Tribal Agency on the Afghan border.

A Pakistani security official and residents of the area said the missiles were fired by US aircraft from Afghanistan. Among the dead were women and children.

Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan put the death toll at 14 and said there were several blasts in the area but that he did not know the cause.

A US military spokesman in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, said there were no reports of US forces operating in the area.

Bajour is one of the eight tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan’s Kunar province. In the past US forces had targeted the hideouts of the Taleban on the Afghan side of the border.

Officials in Islamabad said an investigation had been launched to determine the source of the missile attack. So far Pakistan’s security forces have not taken any military action in this agency. Brig. Iftkhar Ayub of the Frontier Corps said: “We never had any complaint of lawlessness in this agency.” The attack came days after Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, lodged a strong protest with US-led forces in Afghanistan, saying cross-border firing in the nearby Waziristan area last weekend killed eight people.

Residents of Bajaur said the explosions were caused by firing from unidentified aircraft on the village of Damadola at about 3 a.m. The missiles destroyed houses of three tribesmen. Five women and five children were among 18 dead, while five people were hurt, journalist Anwarullah said after visiting the scene. Those killed included 13 members of the family of one tribesman, Bakhpoor Khan said.

“It appears the Americans suspected some foreigners or wanted people were hiding in these houses. But there have never been foreigners in this area before,” he added.

A Pakistani intelligence official said four US aircraft had intruded into Pakistani airspace and fired four missiles.

Another intelligence officer said Damadola has been a stronghold of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, a pro-Taleban group banned by Pakistan in January, 2002. He said members of the group might have been involved in attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan and the missile strikes might have been launched in retaliation.

The deputy chief minister of the North West Frontier Province, adjoining Bajaur, denounced the “unprovoked” attack and demanded the government take up the issue with the United States.

“It was American aircraft — who could dare do that except them?” said Mohammad Siraj ul-Haq, from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an opposition alliance that rules NWFP and opposes the US presence in Afghanistan.

“It is unbearable... I have asked my people to stay peaceful,” he said from Dir, about 22 km from Damadola, itself 200 km northwest of Islamabad. “It shows a failure of foreign policy.” In Kabul, US military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said he had no reports on the attack.

In Afghanistan’s Kunar province, Gov. Noor Mohammed denied allegations that the strike was launched from within Afghanistan. “I have been in touch with all the security forces in Kunar and no one has heard about this,” he said. “I don’t think it’s true the rocket came from within Afghanistan.”

Pakistan says it does not allow Afghan or the 20,000 US forces in Afghanistan to operate on its soil. Pakistan has placed about 70,000 of its own troops along its border with Afghanistan to weed out alleged Al-Qaeda and Taleban sympathizers and militants.

— Additional input from agencies