US- led forces in an attack kill 15 Pak villagers near Afghan border

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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, (Pakistan), Sept 3 (Agencies) Women and children were among 15 people killed in an attack Wednesday involving US- led forces in a Pakistani village near the border with Afghanistan, officials and a resident said.br1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said it had no information to give about the alleged operation, while a spokesman for NATO troops there denied any involvement.brThe United States and Pakistan, allies in the war on terror, have had tensions over cross-border attacks, including a series of suspected American missile strikes which have killed two senior al-Qaida operatives in Pakistani territory this year.brOfficials gave differing accounts of the pre-dawn raid in the South Waziristan region, part of the tribal belt where officials suspect Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri are hiding. It was unclear whether any militant leaders had been killed or captured.brThe governor of North West Frontier Province, the chief administrator for the tribal belt, said three coalition helicopter gunships and commandos carried out an outrageous attack on a village.brAt least 20 innocent civilians of Pakistan including women and children were martyred, Gov. Owais Ahmed Ghani said in a statement.brHowever, Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said homes near the border had been shelled by NATO aircraft and made no mention of ground forces. No one carries out shelling without any reason after coming from far away, Mukhtar told reporters in Lahore.brPakistan army spokesman Maj. Murad Khan said it also had reports that 15 people, including women and children, died in the attack near Angoor Ada, a town in South Waziristan.Officials said both the army and the Foreign Ministry were investigating.brHabib Khan Wazir, an area resident, said the incident occurred in a village called Musa Nikow. Wazir said he heard the sound of helicopters and then an exchange of fire between the assailants and other residents.brHe said the dead included women and children and that all were civilians. He claimed that the attackers were American and Afghan troops, and didn't know if any of them had been wounded.brThere was darkness at the time when the Americans came and killed our innocent people, Wazir said. We would have not allowed them to go back alive if they had come to our village in daylight. He said the funerals of the slain people would be held in the village later Wednesday.brThe US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment. American officials say Pakistan's tribal regions along the Afghan border have turned into havens for al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants involved in attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. South Waziristan is the base for Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud.