[Rocky_Shorz]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

That statement was followed by this...

Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/...as/as_pakistan

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17350

PESHAWAR: Three out of seven people killed in Wednesday’s US drone attack on Baghar village of South Waziristan Agency included two Arabs, one of them a senior al-Qaeda commander, and one hailing from the Punjab.

Sources close to the tribal militants told this scribe that the two Arabs were identified as Jiran, the al-Qaeda commander, and Sabri while the name of the militant commander from the Punjab could not be ascertained.

A senior militant commander, who wished not to be named, said all the three men were sitting in a vehicle parked in front of a mud-built house in Baghar village near Angoor Adda when two US drones fired four Hellfire missiles, killing them and four others staying in the house.

He said Jiran was appointed as al-Qaeda’s operational commander for a particular region in Afghanistan when another senior al-Qaeda commander Abu Imam died in fighting with the US forces near Bagram in Afghanistan three months ago.

“Jiran was a senior operational commander and was mostly living in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He used to change his locations due to continuous surveillance by the US spy planes on the border villages,” said the tribal militant commander.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17349

“This is not a question of helplessness. We are allies and cooperating with the US. They (militants and terrorists) are not confined to Afghanistan alone. Their actions are moving from our tribal areas to our settled areas, into Islamabad and Lahore. We do not subscribe to their interpretation of Islam. They have damaged Islam. There are serious threat perspectives inside mainland US from these Taliban and al-Qaeda. We have to address these concerns. Also we feel that fighting with the military is not enough as we have to have a multi-pronged strategy to wean (the saner elements) from these extremists,” the minister explained.

However, to a query on what the rules of engagement with the US were, whether these were verbal or in writing and whether they would be made public, the minister replied: “This is a big concern for all of us. We will see whether these rules of engagement can be reviewed or not. My understanding is that no foreign troops are allowed to operate inside Pakistan and if any action is taken across the border, then it is for the Isaf and Nato troops to do so.”