Suspected U.S. Missiles Kill 27 in Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Oct. 31 -- Suspected U.S. missiles slammed into two villages close to the Afghan border Friday, killing 27 people, including an Arab al-Qaeda operative and other foreign fighters, intelligence officials said.

The strikes raised the number of such attacks to at least 17 since August. The surge has angered many Pakistanis and strained a seven-year U.S. alliance with Pakistan, where rising violence is exacerbating economic problems and undermining the nuclear-armed country's stability.

The apparent attacks by U.S. drone aircraft coincide with growing frustration in Washington at what American officials say is Pakistan's failure to curb Islamist extremists blamed for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- and suspected of planning Sept. 11-style terrorist strikes in the West.

Dozens of foreign al-Qaeda members, including Osama bin Laden, are thought to be hiding in northwestern Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the Afghan frontier.

The United States rarely confirms or denies attacking suspected insurgent hideouts in Pakistan, and the identities of those killed are only occasionally made public. Residents frequently say civilians, sometimes women and children, are among the dead.

The al-Qaeda figure reportedly killed Friday was identified as Abu Kasha Iraqi, the intelligence officials said.

He had been living in Pakistan's tribal regions for about three years and had been organizing attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan, they said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The purported al-Qaeda figure was among 20 people killed when two missiles hit a house and a car in the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, the officials said, citing local reports.

About two hours later, two missiles hit a village in South Waziristan, killing seven people, including foreign extremists, the officials said.

Pakistan's government says the strikes -- plus a highly unusual ground raid by U.S. commandos in September -- violate its sovereignty. It insists the Pakistani military is tackling the fighters, pointing to the ongoing offensive just north of Waziristan that has killed 1,500 of them.

The government's alliance with the United States is deeply unpopular among lawmakers and many ordinary Pakistanis, who say that the cooperation fuels extremist violence and that the raids prompt retaliatory attacks by militant groups entrenched in the tribal areas.

In a sign of the resilience of the extremists, a suicide bomber earlier Friday attacked a police chief outside his house in the northwestern city of Mardan, missing the official but killing three officers and five civilians, authorities said.