Villagers collected the corpses and body parts on Saturday of the people killed by a US missile strike overnight, but there were no indications that any of those killed were regarded by US counterterrorism agencies as top-tier Al Qaeda targets.A pilotless drone aircraft launched the attack late on Friday, targeting a tribesman's house in Mohammad Khel, a village 30 kilometres west of Miranshah. Two intelligence officials, citing reports from field agents and informants, told AP that eight Arabs and 14 Taliban died in the attack.
The Taliban included a Haqqani commander who had invited the others to dinner, they said. The commander, his father and two young sons were among the dead Taliban, the officials said. Six of the Arabs were buried in the village on Saturday morning, while militants took the other two bodies to an undisclosed location, they said.
The officials said they had no information indicating that any senior Taliban leader was killed. "We found body parts scattered all over the place in the ruins, someone's hand, someone's leg," Bakht Ali, one of the villagers, told Reuters.
An intelligence official based in the region said a woman and three children were among those killed. Army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said initial reports indicated that 20 or more people were killed. He said there was 'speculation' that many were foreign terrorists, but cautioned that the army was still awaiting a detailed report.
Lt Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said he had "no information to give" about the reported attacks. He did not deny US involvement.