HAMZOLA (South Waziristan Agency), Jan 19: The attack on small compounds on Monday here was launched by US predators and not by the Pakistan army’s helicopter gunships, according to some residents of the area.

"Helicopter gunships struck these compounds about 15 minutes after unmanned air vehicles fired five missiles," tribesmen of Hamzola told a group of journalists from Peshawar and the tribal area, who were helped by the local Taliban to visit the area close to the Afghan border.

The residents also showed two unexploded missiles each weighing 500 pounds found at the site. They raised anti-Musharraf and anti-Bush slogans.

They said that at least five missiles had been fired from the unmanned air vehicles that had come from across the border. Later, the army helicopters appeared on the sky and fired a barrage of rockets on the cluster of mud-houses.

Army spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said the army combat helicopters conducted the air strike on Hamzola, 65km north of Wana, the South Waziristan Agency headquarters, on Jan 16. He claimed that 25 to 30 militants, including foreigners, were killed in these hideouts.

But the residents of Hamzola denied the claim and contended that no foreigner was among the dead.

"They killed civilians, four belonging to Mahsud and five from Sulemanzai tribes," said a resident, adding that residential compounds had been targeted. He said that three out of five compounds were destroyed in the attack, which also left about eight people wounded.