Report of Pakistan Raid Disputed

Villagers and hard-line clerics disputed the military’s announcement that it had killed about 30 fighters in an attack on a suspected militant hide-out near the border with Afghanistan, saying Saturday that most of the dead were civilians, including women and children.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan did not reveal the identities of those killed late Friday by Pakistani soldiers and helicopter gunships near Miram Shah, the administrative capital of the North Waziristan tribal region. The town has been the scene of clashes between security forces and militants in the last week.

“We did that with full accuracy on authentic intelligence, and according to our information about 30 miscreants, who included foreigners, were killed,” he said by telephone.

No security forces were wounded and all those at the hide-out were killed, Sultan said, adding that a large cache of weapons was blown up during the raid.

Two residents said they saw the bodies of women and children at the scene. The two did not give their names because of the risk of reprisals.

Syed Nek Zaman, a hard-line opposition lawmaker who also is a cleric, condemned the military operations, saying that the army had killed “innocent tribesmen.”

“Come up with evidence if you killed foreigners,” he said at the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

He also said women and children were among the victims.

An intelligence official in the region said the targeted compound belonged to a pro-Taliban cleric, Sadiq Noor, although it was unclear whether he was there at the time. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said security forces were hunting for more foreigners in the region.

Noor and other pro-Taliban tribesmen have been targeted since early last week when their gunmen seized government buildings after a military attack on an Al Qaeda hide-out near Miram Shah. More than 100 suspected militants and eight soldiers were killed in the fighting, the army said.

Days later, authorities imposed a curfew in Miram Shah after regaining control of government buildings from militants, who are believed to have retreated to nearby mountains.

The recent clashes in North Waziristan were the worst in Pakistan’s tribal regions since 2004.