U.S. Hits Pakistan Again, Tension Mounts

At Least 12 Reported Killed; Diplomats Warn Rift Between Washington, Islamabad Dangerous

(CBS/AP)  The main opposition party called Friday for parliament to meet in joint session to devise strategy on how to deal with cross-border attacks after the latest suspected U.S. missile strike killed 12 people in northwestern Pakistan.

American forces in Afghanistan are stepping up their efforts to hit Taliban and al Qaeda militants in what they call safe havens in Pakistan's wild border regions, despite stiff protests from Islamabad.

With the insurgency in Afghanistan intensifying, U.S. President George W. Bush secretly approved more aggressive cross-border operations in July, current and former American officials have told the AP.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali, a senior leader of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's opposition party, demanded the government convene a joint session of parliament to discuss and devise a strategy on what he called an increasing and alarming number of the U.S. strikes inside Pakistan.

"This is very serious and very concerning to us," he said.

The latest apparent missile strike was by a U.S. pilotless drone inside Pakistan's lawless northwest border region, according to a senior Pakistani intelligence official.

Two intelligence officials told The Associated Press that missiles struck a home near Miran Shah, a town in North Waziristan which is the capital of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, before dawn Friday.

Friday morning's attack appeared to target a former government school building which is believed to be used by militants, the intelligence official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari.

A local official in the Miran Shah area, which is about 11 miles east of the border with Afghanistan, told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai the attack killed 12 people, most of them militants.

The strike came as senior European and Arab diplomats warned that the widening rift between Pakistan's leadership and Washington over the sharp increase in American military activity on Pakistani soil could undermine counter-terrorism efforts.

A local official in the Miran Shah area, which is about 11 miles east of the border with Afghanistan, told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai the attack killed 12 people, most of them militants.

Senior U.S. military leaders said earlier this week that America would need to revise its strategy in combating militants on the Pakistani side of the border, following an increase in military casualties in Afghanistan.

CBS News national security correspondent David Marin confirmed Thursday that President Bush had secretly approved U.S. military raids inside Pakistan to go after alleged terrorist targets - the first time his administration was known to have green-lighted ground operations without the consent of Pakistan's leadership.

The new presidential order also gave U.S. troops permission for the first time to fire across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan even if they are not being fired upon themselves, reported CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.

A local militant in the Miran Shah area told Yousafzai by telephone Friday that Taliban fighters were taking more precautions in light of the ramped-up U.S. military activity. He said leaders were being moved more often and with more security, and there was a growing expectation that encounters with American ground forces inside Pakistan could be imminent.

Pakistan's new civilian leadership and its military commanders have reacted with growing anger to what they call a violation of their country's sovereignty.

The most recent, known cross-border raid by U.S. ground forces took place earlier this month when a team of Navy SEALS laid siege to several buildings in a Pakistani village for at least a couple hours. At least 15 people were killed, including one militant subcommander, but many of them were civilians.

Voicing the southeast Asian country's frustration, General Ashfaq Kayani, the overall military chief, said in a strongly worded statement released Wednesday that Pakistan would not allow foreign troops to operate on its soil.

A senior European ambassador based in Islamabad told CBS News Friday that European NATO members had begun quietly urging both the U.S. and Pakistan to end their squabbling over who should and should not be operating in the border region.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the ambassador told Bokhari, "it is becoming increasingly clear to us that the public disagreements between the U.S. and Pakistan will ultimately just benefit the militants… We are urging restraint on both sides."

An Arab diplomat based in Islamabad echoed those concerns: "This alliance is going to be in trouble unless the U.S. and Pakistan return to some sanity in their respective positions," he told Bokhari.

Pakistan's tribal belt, at the centre of the growing debate between Washington and Islamabad, is widely believed to be used as a safe haven for leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda, who use the rugged terrain to regroup and plan cross-border attacks on U.S., coalition and Afghan troops across the border.

The growing tension comes just days after Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain prime minister Benazir Bhutti took the oath as Pakistan's new president. Zardari has vowed to step up the hunt for militants, but Pakistani officials say his position will be weakened if the current row with Washington is not resolved.

On Friday, army spokesman Maj. Murad Khan said 32 militants and two Pakistani soldiers had died in the previous 24 hours in the Bajur region.

Iqbal Khattak, a local government official, put the total for the 24-hour period higher, saying about 60 militants have died.

Officials say hundreds of militants have died in a weeks-long Pakistani offensive into Bajur. An estimated 500,000 people have fled their homes. Officials acknowledge that civilians have been killed and villages badly damaged in the fighting.

The fight for American soldiers and their military partners is no less perilous inside Afghanistan, where U.S.-led coalition troops killed more than 10 militants and detained two others during two separate raids, the coalition said Friday.

The militants were killed in Tagab district of northern Kapisa province during a Thursday raid on an insurgent commander involved in roadside bomb attacks, the coalition said in a statement.

"Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound. The force returned fire, killing the militants," the statement said.

[wardoglrs]

CBS please stop censoring my post''s

There is no such organisation as Al Qaeda. The spooks know this, Cabinet Ministers know this and so do the security correspondents who so readily trot out the spooks%u2019 point of view on our broadcasting networks.

Of course, there are terrorists, and there are also fantasists, fanatics, low-lifes and camp followers who plot and attempt horrible things. Some of them even call themselves Al Qaeda these days because they have learned that this is a good way to scare us.

But, while they are a menace, they are not as big or as organised a menace as the Government likes to make out.

[wardoglrs]

CBS please stop censoring my post''s

There is no such organisation as Al Qaeda. The spooks know this, Cabinet Ministers know this and so do the security correspondents who so readily trot out the spooks%u2019 point of view on our broadcasting networks.

Of course, there are terrorists, and there are also fantasists, fanatics, low-lifes and camp followers who plot and attempt horrible things. Some of them even call themselves Al Qaeda these days because they have learned that this is a good way to scare us.

But, while they are a menace, they are not as big or as organised a menace as the Government likes to make out.

[wardoglrs]

There is no such organisation as %u2018Al Qaeda%u2019. The spooks know this, Cabinet Ministers know this and so do the %u2018security correspondents%u2019 who so readily trot out the spooks%u2019 point of view on our broadcasting networks.

Of course, there are terrorists, and there are also fantasists, fanatics, low-lifes and camp followers who plot and attempt horrible things. Some of them even call themselves %u2018Al Qaeda%u2019 these days because they have learned that this is a good way to scare us.

But, while they are a menace, they are not as big or as organised a menace as the Government likes to make out.

[mabangash]

dont underestimate the Pakistanis. they have already worked out the targets they will eliminate if Pakistan is invaded. with Iraq, afghanistan, diego garcia etc within range of pakistani cruise and long range nuclear missiles, it does not make sense to anger pakistan.

[mabangash]

just to be clear, Pakistan had made its first nuke by the early 1980s ....... conservative estimates of its arsenal are around 50-100.

it has stealth submarines, cruise missiles, Chinese J-10 air superiority long-range fighter jets with mid air refuelling....

my 2 cents will be to not mess with pakistan

[mabangash]

agosta 90B sealth submarines, f-16 fighter jets with mid-air refuelling and last resort to transport 4000km nuclear ghauri missile close enough......

but before that there are a lot of targets for Pakistan in and aorund the middle-east that need to go up in flames if it is attacked.

----
Tell me, exactly how will Pakistan get those nukes into the U.S.? Since when do they have a missle that will go 7000 miles? Hrrmm? That does seem to be what you are suggesting.

[petro49l]

Bin Laden paid bribes to Politicians in Washington D.C. and Islamabad to guarantee the security of Waziristan. The Coalition will never penetrate his underground sanctuary. Osama freely makes tar heroin in his sophisticated isomizers. The land is valuable to Bin Laden for growing exotic poppies. He ordered the killing of common Arabs living in the region to increase poppy farm size. Terror Groups all over the world receive funds from Osama. They are capable of anything.

[mcapek]

"check out Bush''''s moral area of the brain
and found but ONE sinaps there,,,,,"

try "synapse" you brainiac!

[babooph]

After Nov-no matter the winner-no change comming.

[winnerindia]

And do they have jungles in Pakistan?
------------------------
Posted by mcapek at 06:48 PM : Sep 12, 2008

About jungles in Pakistan, for the information of all those friends who don''''t know;
Pakistan is an agricultural country rich in thick forests, farms and crop fields. That country is highly dangerous. It has every season (extremely hot 60''''C in summer to extremely cold -30''''C in winter). Besides sharing barren mountains with Afghanistan, Pakistan has a very different and difficult landscape. Pakistani mountains are green, covered with thick forests. There are many remote regions where there isn''''t human life simply because such areas are FORESTS :) and people don''t bother to explore.
On media, we only see barren mountains which are in that area of Pakistan which is in the Afghanistan''''s neighborhood. Vietnam%u2019s greenery is nothing as compared to Pakistan''''s..
Many people think that Pakistan is a deserted country like Arabian countries. Others think that it has barren mountains without any forest. All such assumptions are wrong. In fact that country has deserts, mountains (green & barren), leveled fields, sea, rivers and the list goes on and on. It''s just like India when we talk about the landscape and resources. Don''t rely on the ''fast facts'' or ''country facts'' section of CBS news website. All such facts and photos given there are wrong; even they aren''t true for other countries including India (my beloved).

[winnerindia]

Only if you consider "winners" those that los over 1 million (versus what, 40K Americans?). And do they have jungles in Pakistan?
------------------------
Posted by mcapek at 06:48 PM : Sep 12, 2008



About jungles in Pakistan, for the information of all those friends who don''t know;

Pakistan is an agricultural country rich in thick forests, farms and crop fields. That country is highly dangerous. It has every season (extremely hot 60''C in summer to extremely cold -30''C in winter). Besides sharing barren mountains with Afghanistan, Pakistan has a very different and difficult landscape. Pakistani mountains are green, covered with thick forests. There are many remote regions where there isn''t life simply because such areas are FORESTS :)
We only see barren mountains which are in that area of Pakistan which in Afghanistan''s neighborhood. Vietnam%u2019s greenery is nothing as compared to Pakistan''s.. Many people think that Pakistan is a deserted country like Arabian countries. Others think that it has barren mountains without any forest.
In short, Pakistan is a very dangerous region.

[mcapek]

Liberal solution: we the INFIDELS should send FLOWERS to Pakistan and Afghanistan, to Taliban, Al Qaeda, Bin Ladin and BEG for mercy. That will make them all happy, and the terror attacks will cease.

[mcapek]

This all sounds a lot like the Vietnam escalations into Laos and Cambodia. Does anyone remember how that turned out? .... just out of curiosity, WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION to TERRORISM in general, and to HIDEOUTS in Pakistan .... please be specific .... anybody can criticize, I would just like to hear your SOLUTION to the problem. I say bomb the rats where they hide!

[mcapek]

Only if you consider "winners" those that los over 1 million (versus what, 40K Americans?). And do they have jungles in Pakistan?

[pvperson]

Well, if we kill enough civilians we guarantee that al-Qaeda and the Taliban will keep growing and the neo-cons can continue their holy war using other peoples children.

[pvperson]

mcapek, the Vietnamese hid in caves and ended up kicking our *****.

[pvperson]

This all sounds a lot like the Vietnam escalations into Laos and Cambodia. Does anyone remember how that turned out? Not to good for anybody, especially the Laotians and Cambodians or the Americans. Secret invasions, what''s next, a new Pol Pot?

[mcapek]

They can have their IEDs, we will have Predators with Hellfires and long duration drones in the skies above Pakistan, 24/7, watching, analyzing, waiting, for any and all targets of opportunity.

[mcapek]

Hit them again and again!!! They will have to hide in caves from now on!!!

[guadalcanal3]

Pursue the enemy!...wherever the enemy is...Why?...Because they are the enemy and they want to kill us all...It''s not as if Al Qaeda and the Taliban are respecting borders...Why is it o.k for the enemy to go back and forth across the border and not us???...GIVE EM'' HELL!