Taliban leader killed by missile strike

[David]

AP


PARACHINAR, Pakistan – Pakistani intelligence officials say a Taliban commander wanted in connection with the 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi has been killed in a suspected CIA missile strike.

Two intelligence officials said Mohammed Qari Zafar was among 13 people killed in the missile attack Wednesday in the Dargah Mandi area of North Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to media on the record.

Nazirullah Khan, a local government official, confirmed the suspected missile strike in the area on Wednesday and said it killed 13 people.

The consulate bombing killed an American diplomat and three Pakistanis.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Three U.S. soldiers killed in a bombing in northwest Pakistan this month were not the intended targets of the attack, a top general said Thursday.

The militants who blew up a car bomb as a security convoy passed aimed for the "most prominent" vehicle in the apparent belief that a local paramilitary commander would be inside, Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan told The Associated Press in a brief telephone conversation.

There had been speculation in the aftermath of the Feb. 3 blast that the attackers had specifically targeted the Americans, raising the specter of an informant close to the U.S. mission training members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Khan, who heads the Corps, said five militants linked to the attack had been killed and others arrested, but gave no more details.

The killings were the first known U.S. military fatalities in nearly three years in Pakistan's Afghan border region.

They drew attention to the training program, which officials from both countries rarely discuss because of opposition to American boots on Pakistani soil. There are around 100 U.S. special operations forces trying to strengthen the ill-equipped and poorly trained outfit's ability to fight militants.

Authorities and witnesses have given conflicting accounts on whether the attack was a planted bomb or a suicide blast.