Troops halt hardline Islamist marches in Pakistan

PAKISTANI security forces yesterday stopped hundreds of hardline Islamists from heading to north-western Pakistan to protest against a fatal US missile attack, the first time authorities have tried to quell mounting anti-American sentiments.

The convoy of 2,000 protesters, led by senior politicians from an opposition religious coalition, was heading to Damadola to protest the January 13 attack that targeted top al-Qaida leaders but killed 13 civilians outraging many in the Islamic nation.

Hundreds of armed local police erected barricades at Yukka Ghund, a town about 20 miles from Damadola and blocked the convoy, which had set off earlier from the capital Islamabad, gathering strength along the way.

There was no violence but some protesters chanted: "Down with America. Down with Musharraf." After some of the political leaders made speeches, the convoy headed back.

President Pervez Musharraf is a close ally in Washington's war on terror. The missile strike has intensified opposition among Pakistanis to that alliance and appears to have stoked support for al-Qaida along its lawless border with Afghanistan.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, president of the opposition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Front, a six-party Islamic coalition, said the rally was peaceful.

"We were going to Bajur to condemn the attacks and to prove that Pakistanis are against such acts against our sovereignty," said Mr Ahmad, referring to the tribal region where Damadola is located. He demanded that Mr Musharraf resign for failing to protect the lives of Pakistani citizens.

The protest followed a gathering of about 5,000 people near Damadola on Sunday.

Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due of the sensitivity of the issue, say the attack targeted, but missed, al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, but may have killed four other top al-Qaida members, including a top bomb maker with a $5 million (€4.1m) bounty on his head.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, however, said on Sunday there was no proof of that. During a visit to the US, he called reports that al-Qaida leaders had been gathering in Damadola as "bizarre."

"The area does see movement of people from across the border. But we have not found one body or one shred of evidence that these people were there," Mr Aziz told CNN, adding that Washington failed to inform Pakistani officials of the air strike in advance.

Also on Sunday, lawmakers in north-western Pakistan demanded the government expel US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in response to the air strike. But the unanimous resolution by the provincial assembly was unlikely to sway the federal government.

Thousands of al-Qaida and Taliban militants, including Osama bin Laden and top lieutenant al-Zawahri, are believed to have sought refuge along the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border since the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.

Despite Mr Aziz's denial that al-Qaida had been meeting in Damadola, Pakistani authorities say they are looking for militants who might have survived the attack.

Pakistan does not allow US forces to pursue militants across the border from Afghanistan or to launch strikes without permission.