Missiles kill 32 militants in Pakistan tribal region

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 19 (Reuters) A missile attack, probably launched by US forces in Afghanistan, killed at least 32 pro-Taliban militants in a Pakistani tribal region near the border today, Pakistani officials said.

The missiles targeted a suspected training base in a village near the mountainous Datta Khel district, 60 km west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Intelligence officials said some foreigners were among those killed in Mamy Rogha, raising the possibility that al Qaeda fighters might have also been present. North Waziristan is a known refuge for remnants of Osama bin Laden's network.

''There was a cluster of three houses and a tent, which were hit. There were about 45 people in that area,'' a senior government official told Reuters.

A US pilotless drone aircraft carried out the attack at around 1100 hrs IST, according to intelligence officials and residents.

It was not known whether any leading Taliban or al Qaeda figures were targeted in the attack.

The Pakistani army had not carried out any operations in the area, army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said. Initial reports suggested the explosion occurred while the militants were making a bomb, he said.

Pakistani military spokesmen have offered such explanations in the past when US forces in Afghanistan have launched strikes on militant targets in Pakistani territory to avoid admitting any violation of territorial sovereignty.

Last September, the Pakistan government struck a controversial peace deal with militants in North Waziristan.

Under the terms of the treaty, foreign fighters were bound either to surrender or be expelled. Critics said the pact created a sanctuary for militants in North Waziristan.

President Pervez Musharraf met US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte along with Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Saturday. Admiral William J Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, held a separate meeting with the Pakistani leader the same day.

Cross-border incursions by the Taliban militants have long been a bone of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two major U.S.

allies.

Western and Afghan forces have had a series of successes against senior Taliban figures in recent months, thanks in part to Pakistan's cooperation, though Islamabad is wary of taking any credit for fear of a backlash at home.

Reuters PY DB2349