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Pakistan militants threaten more bombs

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-25 11:10

The US has stepped up attacks on suspected militants in the frontier area, mostly by missiles fired from unmanned drones operating from Afghanistan. The incursions, especially a ground raid into South Waziristan by American commandos September 3, have angered many Pakistanis.

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On Wednesday, Pakistan's army said it had found the wreckage of a suspected surveillance drone in South Waziristan, but denied claims by Pakistani intelligence officials that troops and local people shot down the aircraft.

The army statement said security forces recovered the drone, but it did not say anything about the plane's origin. It said a technical problem appeared to have caused the plane to crash and it was investigating.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said one of its drones went down Tuesday in the Afghan province of Paktika, bordering South Waziristan. But it said coalition forces retrieved the plane and no others were missing. The CIA also operates drones in the region.

Pakistani civilian leaders have condemned the cross-border operations by US forces, while the army has vowed to defend Pakistan's territory "at all cost."

"We will not tolerate any act against our sovereignty and integrity in the name of the war against terrorism," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told journalists. "We are fighting extremism and terror not for any another country, but our own country. This is our own war."

Militant warlords have established virtual mini-states in the tribal belt, levying taxes and enforcing strict Taliban-style social codes and justice.

On Wednesday, a so-called "Peace Committee" executed four alleged murderers in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, a witness said. Din Muhammed said members of the committee used mosque loudspeakers to summon a crowd before the four were shot.

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