DAMADOLA, Pakistan – Sympathy for al-Qaida has surged after a U.S. airstrike devastated this remote mountain hamlet in a region sometimes as hostile toward the Pakistani government as it is to the United States.
A week after the attack, villagers insist no members of the terror network were anywhere near the border village when it was hit. But thousands of protesters flooded a nearby town chanting, “Long live Osama bin Laden!”
Pakistan’s army, in charge of hunting militants, was nowhere to be seen.
The rally was the latest in a series of demonstrations across Pakistan against the Jan. 13 attack, which apparently targeted but missed al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.
The military still mans numerous checkpoints in the area but appears to be keeping a low profile so it will not inflame villagers still seething over the deaths of 13 civilians in the attack.
Sympathy for al-Qaida surges in Pakistani region
January 22, 2006
More to Discover
