US missiles slammed into a former school where Pakistani Taliban leaders were meeting Thursday, killing 12 people near the Afghan border in a strike that may have been aimed at the insurgents' top commander. The militant chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was not among the victims, intelligence officials and militants told the AP. The strike was the eighth such attack in two weeks in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, a surge that has illustrated the Obama administration's confidence in the tactic despite official protest from Islamabad. Had it killed Mehsud, it would have relieved Pakistan of a key enemy and offered some revenge for a deadly December attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan claimed by Mehsud's group. At least two missiles hit the Pasalkot area of North Waziristan around 7 A.M. Thursday, landing in a sprawling compound that has been used as a religious school in the past. The dead militants included two foreigners, while at least eight militants were wounded, said the intelligence officials. Three intelligence officials and four militants told the AP that Mehsud was not among the dead. He had been expected to attend the meeting, but authorities were still trying to determine whether he ever made it to the session, the officials said. They cited wireless communications intercepts tracking Mehsud's movements. The militants said Mehsud was alive, safe and traveling. Some of those militants also are believed to have been involved in a late December attack that killed seven CIA employees in eastern Afghanistan. The strike came as Richard Holbrooke, a US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, was visiting parts of Pakistan. During a Wednesday media conference with Holbrooke, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stopped short of completely ruling out the missile attacks, but said there were certain “red lines” that Washington must not cross. “Pakistan feels that it would undermine our relationship if there is expansion of drones and if there are (US) operations on the ground,” Qureshi said. Elsewhere in the tribal belt Thursday, a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed an anti-Taliban tribal elder and wounded six others as they traveled in a car following a meeting with other local elders, local government official Jawed Khan said.
