Pakistan: Army kills 25 insurgents

Pakistan: Army kills 25 insurgents

The airstrike early Tuesday by Pakistani Security Forces took place in the Zamzola area of South Waziristan, in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, a Pakistani army spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, intelligence sources confirmed that 25 to 30 suspected foreign terrorists and their local backers were occupying a complex of five compounds in the area.

After their activities were under surveillance for a few days, the hideout was struck around 6:55 a.m.

The Pakistani spokesman said three of the five compounds were destroyed, killing most of the insurgents in the complex.

But Anwar Ullah, who lives near Zamzola, told AP that five helicopters fired missiles at five homes, killing 10 and wounding 10 others.

Ullah said those killed were Afghan laborers hired by a tribal elder to cut wood.

About 600 tribesmen later protested the raid, chanting slogans against U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

"They were not terrorists. They were only laborers," Niaz Quereshi, a local religious leader, told AP.