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Pakistan says US missile landed on its soil, killing five

A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson says one of the missiles the US fired at neighbouring Afghanistan landed on its soil, killing at least five people.

The missile was part of the barrage fired yesterday at Afghanistan, where US officials said they were targeting alleged militant training camps.

"It seems there has been some technical error,'' Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tariq Altaf told reporters.

Pakistan condemned the US attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan. Altaf said an American envoy was called to hear Pakistan's protest and outrage over the attacks on Afghanistan and on Sudan, as well as over the mistaken missile strike on its own soil.

"Irrespective of the motives of these strikes, the act of violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of these Islamic countries cannot but be a matter of grave concern to the people of Pakistan who justifiably feel outraged,'' Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz told the Pakistani senate earlier.

Demonstrators burned US flags, threw stones at consulates and chanted angry slogans across Pakistan today. Many of the protests were called by conservative Islamic parties that have condemned the US military attacks on bases linked to Osama bin Laden. US President Bill Clinton said investigators had determined bin Laden was behind the August 7 US embassy bombings in east Africa that killed 257 people.

The United Nations closed its offices and directed its American and other foreign staff to stay in their homes for their own safety.

The US state department had recalled all non-essential diplomatic staff and their families on Monday and warned other Americans to leave the country. Many Americans who had stayed when their government first advised them to depart are now flying out, some catching flights early this morning.

But Dale Sinkler, president of an America-owned power company operating in Pakistan, said he was inclined to stay. He said 13 foreign staff left after Monday's warning, but he and a British colleague stayed.

"We came over here to Pakistan knowing the risks, and we want to be in Pakistan. I don't think it sends the right message to pull out,'' he said.

US embassy spokesperson Richard Hoagland said Americans had been issued no additional warnings since the strikes on Afghanistan, adding, "we're still operating under the previous advisory that Americans should consider leaving.''

Hoagland said he had no numbers on how many of the estimated 6,700 Americans living in Pakistan have left.

Police rolled out barbed wire outside the American cultural centre, where Hoagland has his office, during today's demonstration. Dozens of Pakistani police and a few paramilitary troops stood guard, some on the roof. Across town, more police officers stood guard at the US embassy.

UNI

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