Protests in Pak over US airstrike

Islamabad: Thousands of Pakistanis, shouting anti-American slogans, protested throughout the country against the US air-strike on the Afghanistan border.

At least 18 people were killed on last Friday, near the Afghan border.

Pakistani officials said, the air-strike missed its target, Al Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al Zawahri.

About 10,000 men, women and children rallied in Karachi, condemning the attack.

In Washington, US politicians expressed regret over the killings, but said the airstrike was justified by the erroneous belief that a top al-Qaeda leader was among the group, which included women and children.

"Now, it's a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?" Senator Evan Bayh, asked rhetorically.

"It's like the wild, wild west out there. The Pakistani border's a real problem."

Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was the target of Friday's CIA airstrike in the village of Damadola.

Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, said the "real problem" lay with the Pakistani government's inability to control that part of the country, where sympathetic residents were believed to be harboring al-Qaeda leaders.

"So, regrettably, this kind of thing is what we're left with," Bayh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

The death toll from Friday's strike included five children, five women and eight men.

After the attack, a Pakistani intelligence official said al-Zawahiri was not among the dead and it was not known whether he had been in the area.

The killings sparked demonstrations across the country on Sunday, with tens of thousands of people marching against Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, and the US. Demonstrations took place in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi.

Bayh said the killings put Musharraf, who must walk a fine line in trying to control the region while not alienating his supporters, in a precarious position.

"It's a balancing act," he said. "How do they go about trying to bring that area under control, cooperate with us without causing the kind of political problems that would destabilize the government?"

And Senator Trent Lott added, "I would have a problem if we didn't do it."

"There's no question that they're still causing the death of millions of or thousands of innocent people and directing operations in Iraq," said Lott, a Mississippi Republican.

"Absolutely, we should do it."

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Bayh expressed similar sentiments, and cited the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington of September 11, 2001, as justification. "These people killed 3,000 Americans. They have to be brought to justice."

Senator John McCain, also concurred.

"It's terrible when innocent people are killed; we regret that," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

"But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out al-Qaeda, particularly the top operatives. This guy has been more visible than Osama bin Laden lately.

"We regret it. We understand the anger that people feel, but the US' priorities are to get rid of al-Qaeda, and this was an effort to do so."

He added, "We apologize, but I can't tell you that we wouldn't do the same thing again."

Saturday, Pakistan's Foreign Office said it had lodged a protest with the US ambassador to Pakistan over the strike in the remote Pakistani village, and said the incident was being "thoroughly investigated" and would be addressed in the next meeting of the Tripartite Commission a group made up of senior military and diplomatic representatives from coalition forces, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In Bajour agency, the district including Damadola, tribal leaders vowed to continue their protest for three days, and shops in the district will be closed.

Pakistan's religious party alliance, MMA, called for protests. They were joined by the Mutihada Qaumi Movement, a key alliance party in Musharraf's government that has several federal ministers in the Cabinet.

Many of the protesters directed their ire toward Musharraf for allowing the US strike to occur.

Both the Pentagon and the White House declined comment on the attack. An FBI official said the bureau was willing to assist in the examination of DNA samples of the victims, although Pakistan had not requested help.

A preliminary investigation, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement, showed "there was foreign presence in the area and that in all probability was targeted across the border in Afghanistan. As a result of this act, there has been loss of innocent civilian lives, which we condemn."

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister, said that the US ambassador, Ryan Crocker, would be summoned and a strong protest made.