Pakistan strike kills 71 civilians: Official

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PESHAWAR, Apr 13 (AP): Up to 71 civilians were killed in a weekend strike by Pakistani jets near the Afghan border, survivors and a government official said Tuesday - a rare confirmation of civilian casualties that risks undercutting public support for the fight against militants.
The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said authorities had already handed out the equivalent of $125,000 in compensation to families of the victims in a remote village in the Khyber tribal area.
Also Tuesday, a village elder claimed 13 civilians had been killed in US missile strike Monday night elsewhere in the northwest, contesting accounts by Pakistani security officials that four militants were killed.
Pakistan's tribal regions are largely out of bounds for reporters and dangerous to visit because of the likelihood of being abducted by militants, who still control much of the area, making it very difficult to verify casualty figures.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas Monday denied that any of the dead in the Pakistani air force attack were civilians, saying the army had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site of the strike. The victims were initially reported to be suspected militants.
Two survivors interviewed Tuesday in hospital in the main northwestern city of Peshawar gave the first detailed account of the attack, which took place Saturday morning.