ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's president said Monday that cooperation with America in the War on Terror was "excellent" despite a U.S. missile strike that targeted Al Qaeda leaders but also killed 13 civilians, including women and children.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan's sovereignty had been violated by the Jan. 13 missile attack on the northwestern tribal region of Bajur near the Afghan border.
He also expressed regret that women and children died in the attack. But he said that the locals were "guilty of harboring people who are carrying out terrorism in Pakistan and outside in the world."
Pakistani officials have said the United States didn't give them advance notice about the nighttime attack, reportedly launched by unmanned Predator drones flying from Afghanistan. The target was Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, who was believed to have been invited to a dinner in the area.
Musharraf said last week that five foreign militants, including a relative of al-Zawahri and a suspect on the U.S. most-wanted list, were among those believed killed in the strike.
Despite the apparent lack of communication, Musharraf praised U.S.-Pakistani cooperation in the war on terror.
"We have excellent understanding and coordination with the United States forces in Afghanistan. The agreement is very, very clear," he told the visiting journalists from the United States and Asia.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox