71 Civilians in Pakistan Jet Strike Killed

71 civilians were killed in a weekend air raid by Pakistani jets close to the Afghan border. In Peshawar Pakistan, a weekend strike killed 71 civilians by Pakistani jets near the Afghan border as witnessed by the survivors and a government official. in the Khyber tribal area, authorities had already handed out the equivalent of $125,000 in compensation to families of the victims.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied that any of the dead were civilians. For the air force had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site of the strike. Most of the victims were killed when they were trying to rescue people trapped by an earlier strike on the house of a village elder. The Pakistani army, under heavy pressure from the United States, has moved forcefully against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the northwest over the last 1year and 6 months