ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government summoned the US ambassador yesterday to urge an immediate halt to missile strikes on suspected militant hide-outs near the Afghan border.
Missile attacks have killed at least two senior Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan earlier this year, putting some pressure on extremist groups accused of planning attacks in Afghanistan - and perhaps terror strikes in the West.
However, a marked uptick in their frequency has badly strained America’s seven-year alliance with Pakistan, where rising violence is exacerbating economic problems gnawing at the nuclear-armed Islamic republic’s stability.
Having called in US Ambassador Anne Patterson yesterday, “a strong protest was lodged on the continued missile attacks by US drones inside Pakistani territory,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. The attacks were resulting in the loss of “precious lives and property” and “undermine public support for the government’s counterterrorism policies,” the statement said. “It was emphasized that such attacks were a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and should be stopped immediately,” it said.
A US Embassy spokesman was not immediately available for comment. American commanders complain that Pakistani forces have not put enough pressure on militants in its remote and impoverished border regions, an area considered a possible hiding place for Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman Al-Zawahri.
Reflecting that frustration, US military and CIA drones that patrol the frontier region are believed to have carried out at least 15 strikes since mid-August, including one that killed about 20 people at the home of a Taleban commander on Monday. The United States rarely confirms or denies involvement.
In the latest violence in the border region, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint close to a military hospital in the town of Bannu, wounding four people, said police official Sanaullah Khan.
A senior army official said seven soldiers and four civilians were wounded in the attack, some seriously. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into an army checkpost in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing himself and wounding four soldiers, police said. “It was a suicide bombing. The attacker came in a Pajero jeep and detonated it at the check post,” senior police officer Mohammad Alam Shinwari told AFP.
