Death toll in Pakistan missile strike reaches 29

Suspected US missiles slammed into two Pakistani villages close to the Afghan border, killing 29 people including several suspected foreign militants, intelligence officials said.

Washington is suspected of launching at least 17 missile strikes inside north-western Pakistan since August, an unprecedented surge that is straining its seven-year alliance with the nuclear-armed nation at a time of soaring violence and mounting economic problems.

Friday’s reported strikes reflect US frustration at what it says is Pakistani inaction against extremists blamed for planning attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan – and perhaps September 11-style terror strikes in the West.

There were unconfirmed reports that an Iraqi al Qaida member named Abu Kasha Iraqi was among the dead.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said he had been living in Pakistan’s tribal region for years and was involved in organising attacks on foreign forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Scores of foreign al Qaida members are believed to be based in the lawless border area, which is considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

Abu Kasha Iraqi may have been among 20 people killed when two missiles hit a house and a car in Mir Ali village in North Waziristan after drones had been flying overhead for several hours, the officials said, citing reports from agents and informers in the area.

Around two hours later, a second set of missiles hit a village in South Waziristan, killing seven people, including an unspecified number of foreign fighters, the officials said.

A senior Taliban leader named Maulvi Nazir narrowly escaped that attack, according to one of his lieutenants.

Nazir had been sitting with friends in a house in the village of Barikot when it was hit, Yar Mohammed told The Associated Press. Nazir was slightly injured, Mohammed said, without elaborating.

The US rarely confirms or denies firing the missiles – which are launched from unmanned planes – and the identities of those killed are rarely confirmed. Locals frequently say civilians, sometimes women and children, are among the dead.

Pakistan says the strikes – and a highly unusual ground raid involving US commandos in September – are violations of its sovereignty and insists it is tackling the militants, pointing out an ongoing military offensive just north of Waziristan that has killed some 1,500 insurgents.