No sign of al Qaeda dead from US strike
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-21 09:24

No evidence has yet turned up of al Qaeda figures among the dead when a U.S. missile killed at least 18 people in a remote part of Pakistan, the South Asian nation's prime minister said on Friday.

A video grab taken 06 January 2006 from a footage broadcast by Qatari news channel al-Jazeera television shows al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri giving a speech at un undisclosed location.CIA analysts have concluded that the voice on an audio tape posted on an Islamic website is that of Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, a CIA official said. [AFP]

"As of an hour ago, when I last checked with our relevant security agencies who are combing the area, they have not found any tangible evidence that a particular group or any individual was there," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said.

Both the government and the people of Pakistan have condemned the January 13 attack but will continue to look for victims and investigate their identities, Aziz told a news conference after talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"We have been very active proponents and partners in the war against terror with the rest of the world, and we will continue to do so," he said during a U.S. visit that will take him to Washington next week.

Pakistani intelligence sources said on Thursday an al Qaeda bomb expert with a $5 million bounty on his head and a son-in-law of the group's No. 2 were among four militants believed killed by last week's U.S. airstrike, which officials said was aimed at al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has acknowledged that "a few militants" had died in the attack, but said their bodies had not been recovered.

The missile strike in Pakistan's remote Bajaur tribal region, launched from an unmanned drone aircraft controlled by the CIA, was one of at least five such attacks in Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan targeting al Qaeda suspects, according to experts and media reports.

Aziz said people should not be surprised that there were anti-American protests in Pakistan after the attack as the incident "cost innocent lives."

Aziz is expected to raise the issue with President George W. Bush during his visit to Washington next week, but when asked about that, he responded only, "the concerns of the people of Pakistan will be presented at the right forum."