Pakistan/US

Prime Minister meets with Bush on tribal issues

Article published on the 2008-07-29 Latest update 2008-07-29 13:34 TU

Gilani and Bush at the White House
(Photo: Reuters)

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met with United States President George W Bush on Monday to discuss ways to tackle armed groups operating in Pakistan's lawless tribal zones, as coalition forces conducted a missile strike in the area. Gilani urged the US not to act unilaterally when dealing with the tribal situation.

Missile strikes by coalition forces have been a source of friction between the two countries, as Gilani's government has been under pressure to crack down on the area, which has harboured Al Qaeda operatives.

Pakistan officials say they believe an Al Qaeda weapons expert was killed in Monday’s missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal district

Although the US did not confirm the strike, Pakistan officials did confirm that Egyptian biological weapon mastermind Midhat Mursi alSayid Umar did live in the area.

"We believe he was killed in this strike," a senior Pakistan official told the AFP news agency. "It was his hideout, and information that has been shared with us says he was targeted in this strike."

A US drone missile allegedly hit a house attached to a village mosque where Umar's 18-year-old son and an Egyptian, two Saudis and a Pakistani were killed, according to officials.

Umar's second wife and another son were being treated at a nearby hospital.

Pakistani officials say that Umar had provided explosives training to a number of Al Qaeda operatives, including to Richard Reid, the British "shoe bomber" who tried to blow up a jet in 2001.

Umar had been a trainer at Al Qaeda's Derunta camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s, where he taught students how to use poisons and explosives. Recently he had run a camp in Pakistan specialising in how to make car bombs.