US killed 18 women and children

More than 18 Pakistani civilians were killed in a U.S. air strike on a village near the Afghan border, local officials and witnesses said, according news agencies. The attack killed eight women, and six children aged under 10, Ahmad Zaidan, Aljazeera's Pakistan bureau chief reported.

The attack took place in the village of Damadola in the Bajaur tribal zone, about 200km north-west of Islamabad.

Residents said the rockets were launched from neighboring AFGHANISTAN, targeting the family home of a tribesman called Gul Zaman.

"Apparently, a rocket was fired from AFGHANISTAN to target someone who was inside at the time, but residents say innocent people were killed and no terrorist was there," a local army official told The Associated Press.

Another resident told AFP that “Some aeroplanes or helicopters bombed the house of this person and 14 people were killed in the bombardment or maybe a missile attack.”

A Pakistani intelligence official said that the death toll may be much higher.

“People are very angry. They are not allowing access, so exact figures of deaths and wounded people are not available,” he said.

The U.S. army in AFGHANISTAN claimed it had no reports of military operations in the area, according to BBC.

And the deputy provincial governor of Afghanistan's neighboring province of Kunar, Noor Mohammed, denied that the missiles were fired from AFGHANISTAN.

"I have been in touch with all the security forces in Kunar and no one has heard about this," he said. "I don't think it's true the rocket came from within AFGHANISTAN."

Pakistan protested to U.S. military operations in AFGHANISTAN after eight Pakistanis were killed last week in cross-border firing in nearby Miran Shah, Waziristan.

The U.S. army claimed that it didn’t bomb the area. But later CNN quoted sources saying the CIA ordered Friday's strike after receiving intelligence information that Al-Qaida lider Ayman al-Zawahiri was in a village near the border with Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan was investigating the reports, Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, the information minister, said. "Our investigation is still

going on ... I cannot confirm anything," he said.

There are more than 20,000 American forces in AFGHANISTAN. Pakistan has about 70,000 troops in the border region.