Bin Laden's deputy 'targeted in Pakistan air strike'

There was no confirmation from either the Pakistani or US government, but a senior Pakistani government official told the Associated Press that “there is 50-50 chance that some al-Qaida personality was at the home” that was hit early yesterday in the border village of Damadola, about 125 miles north west of the capital Islamabad.

The official said he had heard that the al Qaida figure may have been al-Zawahri and that the information would be clearer later today.

ABC quoted anonymous Pakistani military sources as saying he could have been among five top al Qaida officials believed to have been killed.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official told AP that the remains of some bodies had “quickly been removed” from the village after the strike and DNA tests were being conducted, but would not say by whom.

The government and military confirmed only there had been explosions in a remote village, but could not confirm the cause or casualties. The spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf said the incident was still being investigated.

“I am not in a position to say yes or no,” Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said. “We know that media is reporting it, but we have no such information, or any details. We are still investigating this matter.”

“Our security agencies are still investigating, and this is what I know right now,” information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

In Washington, Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence officials all said they had no information on the reports concerning al-Zawahri.

An AP reporter who visited the scene about 12 hours after what villagers said was an air strike saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers, who denied any links to the Taliban or al-Qaida militants, had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and were digging for more bodies in the rubble. There were no security forces in the area.

The senior Pakistani intelligence official said that hours before the strike some unidentified guests had arrived at the home of one tribesman called Shah Zaman that was destroyed in the attack.

Zaman survived the attack and told AP he had no links with militants.

Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid, a local politician from a hardline Islamic party, claimed it was a US air strike – opposite a region of Afghanistan where Islamic militants are active. But the US military denied knowledge of the incident.

Residents of Damadola, a hillside hamlet about four miles inside north-western Pakistan, recounted hearing aircraft flying overhead before bombs or missiles crashed through the Pashtun tribal village – blasts that were felt miles away.

Three houses, hundreds of yards apart, were destroyed, with wreckage scattered in craters some 10 feet deep. Five women were weeping nearby, cursing the attackers. Dozens of others gathered to express condolences.

“My entire family was killed, and I don’t know whom should I blame for it,” said Sami Ullah, a 17-year-old student, as he shifted debris from his ruined home with a hoe. “I only seek justice from God.”

He said 24 of his family members were killed – among them his parents, four brothers, three sisters-in-law, three sisters and five nephews. He said his father, Bakht Pur, had been a labourer.

The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan, unexplained by authorities but widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants. Militant groups like al-Qaida and the Taliban are believed to be active in the border area, but Bajur itself is rarely troubled by violence.