Pakistan army takes issue over U.S. missile attack

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistan army has taken issue with coalition forces in Afghanistan over a missile attack launched by a U.S. drone aircraft that killed 14 people, an army spokesman told Reuters on Saturday. Two missiles hit a house on Wednesday in the village of Damadola in Bajaur, a Pakistani tribal region where al Qaeda, the Taliban and other Islamist militant groups are active, a security official said.

"We have informed the coalition headquarters in Afghanistan ... we have raised this issue in tripartite commission," army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.

The commission comprises the military commanders from the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and the Afghan and Pakistani armies.

Abbas added that it was up to the government to decide whether to lodge a formal protest with the United States.

Abbas said the house that had been hit belonged to someone sympathetic to the militants.

The strike had apparently targeted and killed a mid-level, Arab al Qaeda member, according to a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

It is unusual for either U.S. or Pakistani authorities to confirm U.S. missile attacks inside Pakistani territory, as the violation of sovereignty is embarrassing to the allies. Many Pakistanis oppose their government's role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

The missile attack was the first since the new government was formed about six weeks ago but the fourth this year.

On Friday, the army found a body of a soldier in Bajaur who had been abducted earlier by Taliban fighters.

Pakistan's new government, sworn in at the end of March, has begun a policy of engagement, negotiating through tribal leaders to bring peace to the frontier region where Pakistani security forces have been struggling to contain a growing Taliban insurgency.

The security situation deteriorated in 2007, as militants linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda carried out a wave of suicide bombings.

More than 600 people have been killed in militant related violence since the beginning of this year, but since the peace talks began the violence has tapered off.

NATO has expressed concerns that a sharp increase in the number of attack on its forces in Afghanistan was partly a result the pacts with militants being worked out in Pakistan.

(Reporting by Aftab Borka; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)