Pakistan Condemns US Strikes in Border Regions

A vehicle involved in a roadside bomb is seen next to a river after an explosion in the Dir region...

A vehicle involved in a roadside bomb is seen next to a river after an explosion in the Dir region near Afghanistan, Pakistan, Thursday Oct. 9, 2008. Bombings targeting police killed 10 people and wounded 14 in Pakistan's volatile northwest and the capital on Thursday - vivid reminders of the challenge facing the U.S.-allied country as its lawmakers pursue a national consensus on battling terrorism. (AP Photo / Sherin Zada)

(AP)

U.S. missile attacks on suspected militants in Pakistan's northwest near Afghanistan are undermining the war on terror and "helping the terrorists," the Muslim nation's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The comments came as a suicide bomber attacked an anti-insurgent group in a northwest tribal area, killing at least 22 and wounding around 100 people. The Orakzai area tribesmen had gathered to plan the demolition of a militant base.

Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have established bases throughout Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal regions, where they are said to plan attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well violence in Pakistan.

Washington has pushed Pakistan to eliminate such insurgent sanctuaries.

Pakistan has carried out military offensives against insurgents while also trying to woo various tribes to turn against the extremists. Some pro-government tribes have set up militias to fight insurgents.

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But in a sign of U.S. impatience with Pakistani efforts, American forces have stepped up their own cross-border assaults on alleged militant targets.

The U.S. is suspected in at least 11 missile strikes on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border since mid-August, killing more than 100 people, most of them alleged militants, according to an Associated Press count based on figures provided by Pakistan intelligence officials.

The United States rarely confirms or denies the attacks, which Pakistan's military and civilian leaders have criticized as violations of the country's sovereignty.

"We want them (the United States) to realize that these attacks are destabilizing the situation, and they are not helping them or Pakistan," Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told The AP. "They are helping the terrorists."

The strikes are unpopular among many Pakistanis and used by critics and Muslim conservatives to rally support in their campaign to unseat the country's broadly secular, pro-U.S. government.