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US drone attacks intolerable: Gilani

Pakistani jets kill 17 Taliban, Uzbek Qaeda militants

AFP, Islamabad/ Khar
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday that US drone attacks in Pakistani territory were "intolerable" as Islamabad lodged a protest with Washington over the latest strike while Pak jets and artillery killed 17 people in tribal area raid.
Speaking in parliament, Gilani condemned the latest US spy drone attack, which killed six people Wednesday at Bannu district in northwest Pakistan, including a major al-Qaeda operative.
"These attacks are adding to our problems. They are intolerable and we do not support
them," Gilani told the national assembly.
The foreign ministry summoned Anne Patterson, the American ambassador to Islamabad, on Thursday to complain about the air raids that have fuelled public anger.
"The US ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry and a strong protest was lodged," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told a press briefing in Islamabad.
US spy drones have carried out more than 20 attacks in recent months but Wednesday s Bannu raid was the first outside the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, known as a
stronghold of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
The prime minister said, contrary to news reports, there was no "understanding" with the United States, which permitted the missile attacks.
"Being chief executive of this country I want to assure you that there is no understanding,” he said.
Gilani said he hoped to resolve the issue with the US government through diplomatic measures and was optimistic the incursions would halt when the new Barack Obama-led administration takes over in January.
Foreign ministry spokesman Sadiq said the US diplomat was told that "continued drone attacks undermined public support for government counterterrorism effortsand stressed that these attacks must be stopped".
"It was underscored to the US ambassador that such attacks were a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he added.
Opposition MPs criticised the Pakistan government in parliament for failing to put pressure on Washington to stop violation of the country's territory.
"If we do not stop them, tomorrow they can attack Islamabad or Kahuta," MP Ahsan Iqbal said referring to the country's main nuclear facility outside the capital.
Earlier Pakistani jets and artillery killed 17 people, including some Uzbek commanders, as they pounded suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in a tribal area, officials said Thursday.
The rebels were killed in overnight jet attacks and Thursday morning artillery and mortar bombardments at four places in Bajaur district, part of the troubled region bordering Afghanistan, government and security officials said.
A security official said the dead included four Uzbek commanders who were trained al-Qaeda militants involved in the recent kill-ings and abductions of members of a tribal force known as a lashkar, which was formed last month to help purge the area of insurgents.
Local government official Mohammad Jamil said two Uzbek commanders had diedintheattacks.
"The air strikes killed a total of 17 militants, two of them were Uzbeks," he said.
Residents said helicopters circled overhead during the Thursday morning artilleryattack.
Jamil said the operation was launched late Wednesday after several people were killed Monday iri fighting between militants and the lashkar.
In that fighting, dozens of militants ambushed the lashkar and later besieged the house where the group of elders had taken refuge.
The heavily armed rebels killed four tribal elders and abducted several others including an influential tribal chief, Ismail Khan, officials said.
Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt became a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.
The Pakistani military is fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Bajaur district, where officials say more than 1,500 rebels have been killed while hundreds more militants have been captured since August.
Pakistani jets also killed 20 militants in attacks on militant centres in the northwestern Swat valley, security officials said.
"The jets bombed selected targets and destroyed a training centre and five residential compounds in Matta district," a military spokesman in the area told AFP.
"The militants suffered heavy losses but we cannot immediately give the exact figure," he said.
Local security officials said at least 20 people were killed and several others wounded in the bombing of the mountainous Swat valley, which was was until last year a popular tourist destination, featuring Pakistan's only ski resort.
The Swat region has been turned into a battleground since cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taliban movement, launched a violent campaign for the introduction ofSharia law.