Air attack kills 17 but al-Qaida chief unhurt

ANGER mounted across Pakistan yesterday after an attempt to kill al-Qaida’s number two missed the target, but caused the death of at least 17 other people.

Yesterday intelligence officials said that Ayman al-Zawahri had been invited to a dinner marking an Islamic holiday at the Pakistani border village struck by a purported CIA airstrike, but he did not show up. The two Pakistani officials said this could explain why Friday’s predawn attack missed Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant.

Al-Zawahri sent some aides to the dinner instead and investigators were trying to determine whether they had been in any of the three houses destroyed in the missile strike that killed at least 17 people.