(Updated: Originally published October 31, 2006)
"Pakistan Says It Killed 80 Militants in Attack on Islamic School" by Salman Masood/New York Times October 31, 2006
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 30 -- The Pakistani military said Monday that it had destroyed a religious school in the Bajaur tribal area, near the border with Afghanistan, killing as many as 80 people it described as militants. Helicopter gunships fired missiles into the Islamic school, or madrassa, in the village of Chingai near the town of Khar, military officials said.
Some local residents and opposition politicians said there were children in the school, and contended that American planes had participated in the attack. General Sultan said that no children or women had been in the madrassa and that no American or NATO troops had been involved.
[Yes, the far-removed general would know more than the witnesses on the ground!
And what do they say?]
Local television channels showed images of the site, where thousands of people had gathered around the rubble of the madrassa. Armed men were seen standing amid the bodies. Residents of the nearby village of Damadola, reached by telephone, said they were awakened Monday at about 5 a.m. by two explosions, and when they went to look, it appeared that the school had been destroyed.
Haron Rashid, a lawmaker from Jamaat-e-Islami who lives half a mile from the school, said:
"[The two explosions] were so powerful that it shook the earth and rattled our doors and windows."
Three Pakistani Army helicopters gunships appeared 15 minutes later, firing rockets the residents said. One man, who identified himself as Akhunzada, said local residents had seen planes flying over the area in recent days... Pakistani officials dismissed any suggestions that the United States was behind the attack.
[Pakistani helicopter gunships "appeared 15 minutes" AFTER the madrassa was flattened?
What's WRONG with the government's story?]
Opposition Islamist parties were quick to denounce the attack and blame America.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, contended that innocent children had been killed and the Pakistani Army was covering up for an American attack at a news briefing:
"Why have they owned this very shameful act of killing the innocent people? This area is not an area where there can be any training camp. This is actually tantamount to a declaration of war on Pakistan."
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of opposition parties, called for nationwide protests on Tuesday.
Sira ul-Haq, a cabinet minister from the nearby North-West Frontier Province, condemned the attack and said he would resign from the government in protest:
"The government has launched an attack during the night, which is against Islam and the traditions of the area. This was an unprovoked attack on a madrassa."
[And we call THEM COWARDS?
Bombing at 5 a.m. "during the night, which is against Islam and the traditions of the area."
But we are not DISRESPECTING ISLAM or anything.
We're bringing FREEDOM!]
In an airstrike last January in Damadola by an American Predator drone, a pilotless aircraft... operated by the Central Intelligence Agency in an effort to capture Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's second in command... local officials said the attack killed 18 civilians, causing nationwide outrage and galvanizing tribes in the region in their opposition to the government in Islamabad.
Yesterday's airstrikes... came as tribal elders in Bajaur were beginning talks with pro-Taliban militants... in an effort supported by the government to stem cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Similar overtures in North Waziristan led to an agreement recently with pro-Taliban groups there.
Mohammed Sadiq, a local lawmaker: "This attack is very strange, as we were told Sunday that the peace agreement would be signed."
The strikes on Monday happened two days after thousands of tribesman protested in Bajaur, which borders the restive Afghan province of Kunar, against the United States and its Pakistani supporters.
[And there is your reason for annihilating innocent and lovely people who NEVER DID ANYTHING TO US!]
"Pakistan cites US intelligence in air raid: Officials say data on Al-Qaeda led to school attack" by Pamela Constable and Kamran Khan/Washington Post October 31, 2006
WASHINGTON -- A missile strike that killed close to 80 people at an Islamic school in Pakistan early yesterday was launched because of US intelligence reports that senior Al Qaeda figures were hiding there, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The strike generated angry protests by religious and tribal leaders, who accused the government of doing Washington's bidding at the cost of Pakistani lives.
The county's major Islamic party charged that US military planes carried out the attack, which demolished the school, located near the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistani and US military officials denied that, saying the raid was the work of Pakistani helicopter gunships and forces, though US intelligence had prompted it.
[Yeah, and the Pakistani helicopters arrived about 15 minutes too late!
I KNOW whose word I am taking, and it's not the words of a lying cadre of generals!]
"The attack, in the Bajaur tribal district near the village of Khar, caused the highest number of deaths... in Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, agreed to side with the United States to help overthrow the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
The raid on the Islamic studies school, known as a madrassa, seemed to represent an abrupt shift from the Musharraf government's recent policy of seeking peaceful negotiations with extremists in the border regions.
In the past several months, two peace deals were signed in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan after sustained attacks there by the Pakistani military drew strong local opposition and caused heavy casualties on both sides. A third such agreement was due to be signed in Bajaur this week, but it seemed almost certain to collapse now. Yesterday's events are bound to compound the problems for Musharraf.
[I'd say! Putting his rule and HIS LIFE at stake!]
Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khan, who heads one of the two major religious parties in parliament:
"What a stupid operation, just one day before an accord between the local Taliban and government. It has killed the entire spirit and the peaceful atmosphere in the tribal areas."
[Probably the point of it all!]
Protesters who turned out in many towns yesterday pledged to return to the streets today. A similar strike occurred in January, when US missiles devastated a nearby compound that authorities believe Zawahiri was visiting. Officials initially denbied, then acknowledged. reports that a US drone had carried out the strike, which killed 18 people. The raid set off protests across Pakistan and forced the Musharraf government to publicly condemn the action.
[But we are not initially denying, then acknowledging THIS AIR STRIKE!
Riiiiight!!!]
At a mass funeral for [an alleged al-Qaeda leader and followers] yesterday, news agiencies reported, thousands of armed men shouted, "Down with Musharraf! Down with Bush!" Some religious politicians from the area rejected the official version of events, saying it bore similarities to the January attack.
Sahibzada Haroon-ur Rashid, the local member of parliament from the Jamaat-e-Islami party:
"Exactly like Damadola, there was a big flare before a missile hit the madrassa, with a huge bang. Several minutes later, Pakistan Army gunship helicopters appeared on the horizon firing aimlessly."
Rashid resigned from parliament in protest yesterday, as did another senior leader of the religious political alliance that controls North-West Frontier Province, near Afghanistan. Until now, religious parties had maintained an uneasy alliance with Musharraf, and he often deferred to their demands."
[Gee, Americans really put you in a pickle up there, huh, Mushy?
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, we wasted another 55 "Taliban." Whatever!
If you read the pieces through it all makes sense as to why this happened.
Damn Uppity Frontier Tribesman asserting their independence.
So punish their community, KILL THEIR KIDS!
Bottom line: WE BOMBED A SCHOOL like a BUNCH of TERRORISTS!!!
