Even as Pakistan's army vowed Friday to safeguard the country's territorial integrity, another missile from a pilotless US aircraft hit the northwestern Pakistani region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border, killing 14 militants. The strike, near the town of Miranshah, was the first since a recent surge in tension between Pakistan and the United States following a report that President George W. Bush had secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allowed US special forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the approval of the Islamabad government. “We confirm a missile attack at around 5.30 in the morning ... We have informed the government,” said military spokesman Major Murad Khan. The military, apparently reluctant to highlight infringements of sovereignty, has rarely confirmed such attacks. Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, addressing commanders at the end of a two-day meeting said that “all elements of the National Power under the new democratic leadership will safeguard the territorial integrity of Pakistan with full support and backing of the people of Pakistan.” Kayani on Wednesday said that the country would defend its sovereignty “at all cost” and no external force would be allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan. Across Pakistan, there is anger over a raid by US ground troops last week and repeated missile attacks in the troubled tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. An intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan has raised fears about its prospects seven years after US-led forces ousted the Taleban. That worry has compounded pressure on Pakistan to go after militants operating from enclaves on its side of the border, including in North Waziristan. Security forces stepped up offensives in two areas in August, the Bajaur region on the Afghan border and the Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting including 100 militants in Bajaur on Thursday, the military said. Hours after Friday's missile strike, a roadside bomb hit a security convoy in a nearby village, seriously wounding two soldiers. Soldiers in the convoy opened fire after the blast, wounding four civilians, residents said. About a dozen US-led strikes this year have killed scores of militants and some civilians in Pakistan. The cross-border raid last week by US-led coalition troops based in neighboring Afghanistan, killed 15 people. Pakistan's government condemned the raid as “shameful,” saying that only civilians had been targeted. In Washington, US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen said Wednesday he had ordered the military to draw up a new strategy that encompasses insurgent safe havens in Pakistan. Amid strained relations between two key war on terror allies, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday endorsed General Kayani's criticism of the US raids in the tribal belt. US officials declined to comment on the New York Times report about Bush's secret orders and Pakistan's US ambassador Husain Haqqani told Reuters Bush had issued no new orders.
