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US 'missed al-Zawahri'
15/01/2006 21:35 - (SA)
Peshawar - Al-Qaeda's second in command was invited to a dinner marking an Islamic festival on the night of the devastating US missile strike in a Pakistani border village, but did not show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday.
Ayman al-Zawahri sent some of his aides instead, and investigators are trying to establish if any of them were among the at least 17 people killed in the attack, which has caused outrage in Pakistan and a second day of anti-US protests.
About 10 000 people rallied in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, chanting "Death to America" and "Stop bombing against innocent people." Hundreds massed in the capital, Islamabad, and in Lahore, Multan and Peshawar burning US flags and demanding the withdrawal of US troops from neighbouring Afghanistan.
The US government has yet to formally comment on the air strike.
Pakistan is a key US ally in the war on terror but doesn't allow American forces on its soil. On Saturday, the government lodged a diplomatic protest and condemned the attack, saying it had killed innocent civilians.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials said that al-Zawahri, who has a wife from a local tribe, had been invited to a dinner in Damadola village to mark last week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, but apparently changed his mind. They said their information was from Pakistan's own security agencies and intelligence shared by the CIA after the attack.
The United States has 20 000 forces in Afghanistan, but its military officials decline to discuss troop movements and whether they had stepped up their presence in Kunar in case al-Zawahri fled west into Afghanistan.
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