Suspected Us Missiles Kill Militants in Pakistan

A salvo of suspected American missiles killed at least 20 people, including several al-Qaida militants, in Pakistan's tribal areas yesterday, a day after a restaurant bombing in the capital, Islamabad, that wounded US and British officials. The bloody weekend underscored the extremist threat facing the new coalition government of erstwhile rivals Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari, which is due to be formed after parliament is sworn in today.

Tribesmen near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, reported seeing up to seven missiles fired at two houses. Earlier they heard a buzzing noise - the signature sound of US Predator drones, which have carried out at least two attacks on suspected al-Qaida hideouts in the tribal areas this year.

The Pakistan army confirmed five or six explosions, but could not identify the source. The US and Pakistan have a policy of not officially recognizing politically inflammatory Predator strikes.

Security officials said that al-Qaida fighters from Arab countries and Turkmenistan were hiding inside the house. Angry tribesmen said the victims were innocent locals, said Sailab Masood, a veteran tribal journalist.

In an unusual admission of the presence of foreign militants, the Saudi interior ministry announced that three of its nationals had been extradited from Pakistan after being "in troubled zones in an illegal capacity", an apparent reference to al-Qaida activity in the tribal areas.

Islamabad was tense yesterday after the bombing of Luna Caprese, an Italian restaurant popular with foreigners, the previous night. A Turkish aid worker was killed and 13 others injured including five American diplomats, two Japanese journalists and a British police officer.

Local media showed photographs of Keith Pearce, a Scotland Yard counter-terrorism specialist who had contact with the Pakistani police, leaving the restaurant with eye injuries and a bloodied shirt. He has returned to the UK for treatment. Police yesterday stepped up security, mounting roadblocks and standing guard outside the restaurant, one of the few to serve alcohol in the capital.

The attack may mark a significant shift in militant tactics. Until now most attacks have been suicide bombings targeting military and police installations. Now foreigners have joined the target list.

The US embassy warned citizens to avoid congregating in public places and to "act self defensively at all times". The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for Pakistan, saying there was "a heightened threat to westerners in major cities".

Today's inaugural session of the new parliament is the latest challenge for the politically diminished President Pervez Musharraf. It paves the way for a coalition government uniting Benazir Bhutto's widower, Zardari, and Sharif, who has vowed to oust Musharraf at the earliest opportunity.

But the coalition's unity is fragile and the president could still exploit differences over the status of the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who has been under house arrest since November. Musharraf's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, said parliamentary procedures meant it could take up to a week for the new government to assume power.