Missile strike in Pakistan kills children, women

Pakistani activists shout anti-US slogans as they burn a US flag during a protest in Lahore yesterday. Pakistan has condemned a cross-border raid by Afghanistan-based international troops on a tribal village as "shameful" and unjustified, saying that only civilians had been targeted.Photo: AFP

Three children and two women were killed when missiles fired by a suspected unmanned US aircraft hit a Pakistani tribal village yesterday in the third such attack in as many days, officials said.
The strike hit two houses belonging to tribesmen in North Waziristan's Goorweck Baipali village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the main town of Miranshah, and located right on the border with Afghanistan, they said.
"Three children and two women have been killed in the missile strike, which destroyed two village homes," an official said, adding that one woman was injured.
"We suspect that the missiles were fired by forces across the border," the official added. Residents said two pilotless aircraft fired three missiles.
The latest strike follows Pakistani accusations that US-led forces based in Afghanistan killed 15 people in a border village on Wednesday in neighbouring South Waziristan district.
Security sources said a large demonstration was being planned in South Waziristan's Wana district after Friday prayers to protest at the claimed US-led raid, which involved helicopter gunships and ground troops.
Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan have said they have no knowledge of that incident.
South Waziristan is a known haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
Several officials claimed that Friday's missile strike killed children and women, not militants.
Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said he had received a report of the incident but specified that Pakistan did not conduct any operations there.
Meanwhile, around 3,000 Pakistani tribesmen yesterday chanted "Allahu Akbar and death to America" in protest at a raid by Afghanistan-based US-led troops that saw at least 15 people killed.
One of their elders warned US authorities to prepare for assaults on their bases in Afghanistan if they do not stop attacks on Pakistan's northwest border area, according to local residents and officials.