Islamabad: Three US soldiers killed in a
bombing in northwest Pakistan this month were not the intended
targets of the attack, a top general said on Thursday.
The militants who blew up a car bomb as a security convoy
passed aimed for the "most prominent vehicle in the apparent
belief that a local paramilitary commander would be inside,
Maj Gen Tariq Khan told The Associated Press in a brief
telephone conversation.
There had been speculation in the aftermath of the Feb 3
blast that the attackers had specifically targeted the
Americans, raising the specter of an informant close to the
US mission training members of Pakistan`s paramilitary
Frontier Corps.
Khan, who heads the Corps, said five militants linked to
the attack had been killed and others arrested, but gave no
more details.
The killings were the first known US military fatalities
in nearly three years in Pakistan`s Afghan border region.
PTI
