AFP, 28/07/2008 09h25
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Suspected US missiles killed six people including three Arab militants in Pakistan's tribal belt on Monday, as the country's premier prepared for talks with US President George W. Bush.
Three missiles struck a house attached to a mosque in the tribal district of South Waziristan, an area bordering Afghanistan that is regarded by Washington as a haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists, officials said.
"Six people are dead and three others injured after three missiles hit a house in Azam Warsak (village)," a senior security official told AFP. He said those killed were three "suspected Arab militants and three young boys."
©AFP/Graphic
Residents said that they heard US aircraft and pilotless Predator drones flying above the area before and after the strike, adding that there had been alarm over similar flights throughout the weekend.
Pakistani officials said the missiles were not fired by their forces but apparently came from US coalition troops deployed over the border, which lies some 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Azam Warsak.
"This has been done by coalition forces, we did not do it," another Pakistani security official said.
The identities of those killed were not known. A group of Arabs, believed to be Egyptians, had rented a compound containing the house and the madrassa from a local tribesman, Malik Salat, residents said.
A number of Arab Al-Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding in the tribal belt, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
©AFP/File - Tariq Mahmood
Military officials in Islamabad and the US-led coalition in Afghanistan were not immediately available to comment.
Pakistan has protested over a wave of missile strikes attributed to US-led forces in Afghanistan in recent months which have killed dozens of local people.
Officials including the governor of North West Frontier Province, which adjoins the tribal belt, have warned that the missile strikes are damaging support for Pakistan's new government.
The latest killings took place hours before the scheduled talks between Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the White House.
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