Pakistan raid may signal more U.S. attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. commandos attacked an al Qaeda target in Pakistan this week in an operation that could signal more intense American efforts to thwart militant attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The raid follows growing frustration among U.S. officials, who say Pakistan has not done enough to combat militants operating in the shared border area despite a recent increase in Pakistani operations that have drawn violent reprisals.

The Bush administration has not officially acknowledged any involvement in the Wednesday attack on the South Waziristan village of Angor Adda that killed up to 20 people, including women and children, according to Pakistani officials.

Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid targeted suspected operatives and aimed to disrupt militant safe havens, which pose an escalating threat to U.S., NATO and Afghan forces just across the border.

U.S. officials said activities in safe haven areas, such as recruiting and training, have become bolder over the past year while political turmoil in Pakistan led to diminished pressure on militants from the Pakistani military.

"The question for debate has been: 'Can you allow that to go unhampered?'," said one military official.

The safe havens, where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be some seven years after the September 11 attacks, also represent a leading security threat to the United States and Europe, U.S. military and intelligence officials say.

The raid spawned a furious response from the Pakistan government, which has publicly opposed any action by U.S. troops on its soil. Foreign Minister Shah Memood Qureshi said it was a shameful violation of the rules of engagement.

In a separate incident, a missile attack on Thursday by a suspected U.S. drone killed four Islamist militants and wounded five others in nearby North Waziristan, Pakistani security officials and witnesses said.

While U.S. officials would not comment on either the commando raid or the missile strike, which occurred as Pakistan prepared to elect a new president on Saturday, the Pentagon said the United States would pursue its enemies.

"We are going to pursue terrorists wherever they operate, plan their operations, try to seek safe harbor," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

'WEAK GOVERNMENT'

The United States and other allies are increasingly concerned about Pakistan's stability. On Wednesday, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

As President George W. Bush prepares to leave office in January, both of his would-be successors -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- have stressed the need for Pakistan to focus on security.

But Thomas Fingar, U.S. deputy director of national intelligence, said Pakistan had limited abilities to fight militants on its own and that political sensitivities hurt its willingness to act.

"Pakistan is inherently unstable ... It's a weak coalition government and military operations inside Pakistan are not popular," Fingar told reporters at a conference in Orlando.

"The sensitivity to it clearly affects what the Pakistanis are willing and able to do themselves, and what they are willing and unwilling to allow the coalition to do."

Wednesday's raid has been described publicly as the first known incursion into Pakistan by U.S.-led troops since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pentagon officials said the presence of U.S. troops in Pakistan marked a return to tactics used soon after the start of that war.

By hitting militants in Pakistan, officials and analysts said the United States hopes to subject them to an atmosphere of constant threat, which should inhibit their activities.

But some analysts warned U.S. action inside Pakistan could erode Islamabad's credibility in tribal regions and inadvertently help militants destabilize the nuclear-armed country.

"It would be a serious mistake to risk the destabilization of Pakistan to try and avert failure across the border in Afghanistan," said Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations.

"If you think the No. 1 threat to U.S. interests at the moment is al Qaeda's acquisition of a nuclear weapon, far and away the likeliest scenario for that to happen is some sort of collapse of the Pakistani government into chaos."

(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington and Randall Mikkelsen in Orlando)

(Editing by Kristin Roberts and Sandra Maler)