Taliban could exploit civilian deaths

Islamabad: A Pakistani air strike on suspected Taliban militants which killed civilians in a village could alienate those the army needs most in its struggle to stabilise the country — pro-government tribesmen.

Before the attack on Saturday, remote Saravilla was one of the few villages in northwest Pakistan where the Pakistan Taliban were too scared to go, residents say.

After details of the operation became clear this week, analysts wonder whether the assault may turn some of the few Pakistanis brave enough to resist the Taliban against the army as it widens a crackdown on Al Qaida-backed Taliban insurgents.

Villagers and local government officials said 63 civilians were killed. The military initially denied civilians died. Then military officials said the strikes killed 30 militants and then another assault killed up to 20 civilians who gathered afterwards at the site and were mistaken for Taliban fighters.

"Saravilla is a place where the Taliban cannot dare enter. The government well knows where are the hideouts of the militants," Ameer Baz, a villager whose relative was wounded in the attack, said.

"If the army kills civilians then people will not support operations against militants."

Militant sanctuaries

Pakistan can't afford to anger civilians in the ethnic Pashtun tribal northwest, where it needs more intelligence and cooperation on the ground to fight the Taliban. Militants operate from sanctuaries in the areas where the government traditionally has little authority.

Pakistani security forces have stepped up anti-Taliban assaults in the northwest over the past year, largely clearing militants from the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, and the South Waziristan and Bajaur regions on the Afghan border.

It has expanded operations into the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram regions where officials say the Taliban fled from earlier operations.

Large numbers of civilian casualties could be a blow to the government's efforts to win over the tribal population from the Taliban, an effort the government says has been largely successful.

Casualties

Residents said a house hit in the strike belonged to a tribal elder with three sons are serving in the military.

The Taliban has killed many pro-government tribal leaders while tightening its grip on parts of the northwest. Impressionable young men with few prospects are often drawn to the group's calls for glorious holy war.

Analysts say civilian casualties in Saravilla could be exploited by the Taliban, who have expanded their bombings from strongholds in the northwest to towns and cities in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which also faces pressure from ally Washington to help stabilise Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency is raging.

"This is a golden opportunity for the militants to win support," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on the Taliban and tribal affairs.

At a hospital in the provincial capital of Peshawar, where the wounded were taken, people tried to come to terms with the incident.

A farmer who was making arrangements to have relatives over for lunch before the mayhem has to have brain surgery. Another man, Pervez Shah, was gossiping with friends when the jets struck. He is at risk of a leg amputation and his father, two brothers and uncle were killed.

"The attack was so huge and sudden that within a fraction of a moment it sprayed people with fire in the whole neighbourhood," he said.