US airstrike on village strains alliance with Pakistan

THE pre-dawn airstrike aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri in a remote Pakistani village was intended as a devastating blow to al-Qaida, but it has strained ties with a key US ally in the war on terror and could provoke more anti-American fanaticism in this Islamic country, analysts said yesterday.

Friday's purported CIA mission, which Pakistani officials say missed its target and killed 17 people including women and children, also undermined the fragile goodwill cultivated in Pakistan by generous US relief in the wake of October's earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people.

"This will consolidate anti-American sentiment," said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and political analyst, as former US president George Bush arrived in Pakistan to tour the quake zone.