Hundreds protest over strike on alleged al-Qaida hide-out

Hundreds of religious hard-liners chanting “Jihad!” staged rallies today in a Pakistani town against an army airstrike on a suspected al-Qaida hide-out and claimed it had killed innocent labourers, witnesses said.

About 1,000 supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party marched through Tank, a city about 100 miles north of the scene of yesterday’s attack near the Afghan border in South Waziristan that the army said killed eight militants.

“They killed innocent labourers. There were no foreigners or (militant) training centres,” witnesses quoted rally leader Maulana Tahir as saying.

Activists of the JUI, a pro-Taliban Islamic group in the provincial government, chanted, “Jihad! (holy war)” during the protest and “Death to Musharraf!” – referring to Pakistan’s military leader, President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Separately, about 200 college students burned tyres and blocked a road that links Tank with Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.

Most shops in Tank were closed during the protests. Police and paramilitary troops patrolled the streets, but there was no violence.

Pakistan is a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, but has come under growing pressure from the US to deter cross-border attacks by Taliban and al Qaida militants from its tribal areas into Afghanistan.