US air strike wounds at least 3 Pakistanis

Islamabad, May 9 : US aircraft wounded at least three Pakistani labourers in a missile strike against suspected Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region today, according to security officials.

The three were brought to the Pakistani bordertown of Angoor Adda from a nearby mountain where they had been mining for minerals, but another eight men were unaccounted for, said the officials, who requested anonymity.

The attack came on the heels of criticism by a senior US official of Pakistan's efforts to stop Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces.

Security officials said the attack was launched during the early afternoon on the slopes of a mountain called Khawaja Khizer.

Initially, officials had said helicopter gunships had carried out the attack, but others later said it had been aircraft.

Military and government spokesmen could not be immediately contacted, and it was unknown whether the US side had consulted Pakistani forces before carrying out the attack inside Pakistani territory.

Pakistan has deployed close to 80,000 troops in the border areas and they have killed over 300 militants in neighbouring North Waziristan since mid-2005, and lost more than 50 soldiers in the fight against foreign al Qaeda militants and their supporters among the local tribes.

Henry Crumpton, the US State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, said in Kabul on Saturday: ''Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is 'no'.

''Not only al Qaeda, but Taliban leadership are primarily in Pakistan, and the Pakistanis know that,'' Crumpton said, adding that eliminating militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal lands was crucial.

Crumpton's comments were a rare public admonishment of Pakistan by a member of the U.S. administration, and were a sign of growing frustration with the Taliban's resurgence since late last year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had also implored Pakistan to do more, shortly before President George W. Bush visited both countries along with India in early March.

Bush called for the security forces on both sides of the border to enhance their intelligence sharing and coordination.

Reuters