By Mushtaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: Dozens of people were feared dead or injured in yet another missile strikes reportedly carried out by two US spy planes on Damadola village in Bajaur tribal region, bordering Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at 14 in the air attack but there were fears that the casualties might be much higher. Local tribesmen informed this correspondent by telephone late Wednesday night that two US spy planes, which were hovering over the town for the past two days, fired two missiles at Bar Kelay in Damadola town, destroying a house, an adjacent mosque and a Hujra (male guesthouse). One Obaidullah or Inayatullah, a schoolteacher, owned the house and Hujra.

The residents said they were not aware of the exact number of casualties as the buildings had completely collapsed and no efforts could be made to retrieve the bodies due to darkness and uncertain situation.

They said the villagers wanted to pull the bodies out of the rubble of the buildings but they could not come out of their homes and reach the spot as planes were still flying over the town. However, witnesses said that dozens of militants surrounded the area and started retrieving the bodies.

Maulvi Omar, who is militants’ spokesman, and belongs to Bajaur, called this correspondent and claimed that both the planes that attacked the village were American. He said that he along with several other militants, was close to Damadola and they were willing to enter the village after the attack to launch a rescue operation but could not do so as the same planes were still hovering over them.

Top military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told The News he was not aware of any such incident. He, however, said Pakistan had not carried out the attack. (AFP quoting a senior security official said at least a dozen militants including foreign fighters were killed in the suspected US missile strike on two houses.

“We have reports that the missile strike killed at least 12 militants including some foreigners,” the official said. The houses targeted belonged to Maulvi Taj Mohammad and Maulvi Hassan, the security official said, though it was unclear if they had been killed in the strikes. “Both were Al-Qaeda facilitators,” he said, adding there was an ammunition dump in one of the houses.)

Our Wana correspondent adds: Jet fighters flying from across the Pak-Afghan border violated Pakistan’s airspace in South Waziristan Agency Wednesday and dropped bombs in the area near the Durand Line.

Tribal sources said the jet fighters from the US-led Nato forces operating in Afghanistan intruded into Pakistan’s territory at Sra Khawra area near the border town of Angoor Adda and flew about three kilometres deep into South Waziristan Agency.

The planes reportedly dropped some bombs inside Pakistani territory but there were no details of losses. The same jet fighters also bombed targets on the Afghan side of the border. The government officials could not be reached to confirm the violation of Pakistan’s airspace by foreign planes.

It may be recalled here that 17 people, mainly women and children were killed in a similar attack carried out by US Predator on Damadola village on January 13, 2007 on suspicion of presence of al-Qaeda’s No2 Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri in the village.

Later in October 2007, US planes bombarded a Madrassa in Cheengai village in Bajaur and killed 80 students and their teachers. Both, Pakistan and US, had alleged on that occasion that the madrassa was being used as training facility by al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The militants and government were close to sign a peace agreement when the bombing incident occurred. This time again the incident happened almost the same day when Baitullah Mahsud-led militants inked peace agreement with the government.

DAMADOLA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Angry residents of a Pakistani village on the Afghan border stopped government officials on Thursday from approaching the ruins of a house struck by missiles suspected to have been fired by a U.S. drone.

Eighteen people including foreign militants were killed when two missiles hit a house in the village of Damadola in the Bajaur tribal region, where Islamist militants have been known to operate, on Wednesday evening, a security official said.

A spokesman for Pakistani Taliban militants said the strike was aimed at derailing peace talks with the new government.

A senior government official said the strike had apparently targeted a mid-level, Arab al Qaeda member, who had been killed.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, asked about an attack apparently carried out by the United States, said: "I strongly condemn this. It's absolutely wrong. It's unfair. They should not have done this action."

"Several innocent people have been killed. We condemn it," Gilani said, according to a transcript of an interview with Pakistan's ARY OneWorld Television to be broadcast later on Thursday.

The strike was the first since the new government was formed about six weeks ago but the fourth this year.

Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty and are unpopular with many Pakistanis who oppose the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.

A Pakistani military spokesman said there had been a blast but the military had not determined the cause.

In January 2006, a CIA-operated drone Predator aircraft fired missiles at a house in Damadola in the belief al Qaeda leader bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al Zawahri, was visiting.

He was not there and at least 18 people died in the strike, several of them believed to have been al Qaeda members.

Earlier this year, U.S.-controlled Predator aircraft struck at least three sites used by al Qaeda operatives in northwest Pakistan, killing dozens of suspected militants.

"BARBARIC"

In Wednesday's strike, the house, which residents said belonged to an ethnic Pashtun tribesman, and an adjoining mosque were almost completely destroyed.

Crowds gathered at the scene and a district government official said angry villagers had stopped and turned away his men who had tried to approach.

Villagers showed a reporter scraps of metal that they said came from a missile and blood stains.

"It's barbaric," said villager Rehmatullah Khan.

Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for Taliban militants based in Pakistan, said four of those killed were Taliban fighters and all the dead were Pakistani. There were not believed to be any prominent militants among the dead.

Allies of staunch U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf were defeated in a February election and the new government has begun negotiating with the aim of getting Pakistani militants to end a wave of attacks.

Taliban spokesman Omar said the U.S. missile strike was aimed at scuppering the peace talks with the government.

"They don't want peace in Pakistan and that's why they are doing it but we'll continue the talks," Omar said.

Pakistan's Western allies say previous peace pacts merely gave the militants a free hand to regroup and plot violence in Afghanistan and beyond.

The Washington Post reported in March that the United States had escalated air strikes against al Qaeda fighters operating in Pakistan's tribal areas fearing that support from Islamabad may slip away as Musharraf's power ebbed.

Many al Qaeda members, including Uzbeks and Arabs, and Taliban militants took refuge in North and South Waziristan, as well as in other areas on the Pakistani side of the border after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere along the border.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider, Zeeshan Haider, Simon Cameron-Moore in Islamabad; Writing by Robert Birsel)

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