UNITED States commandos killed at least 20 people including women and children in a cross-border raid yesterday in Pakistan’s tribal region .

A local security official said the US forces might have raided the compound to seize or kill some high- value target, as the area was a known sanctuary for al-Qaeda militants.

Pakistan’s top security official, Rehman Malik, told reporters on Monday that government troops had recently narrowly missed an opportunity to capture al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al- Zawahiri.

The reported action in South Waziristan was the first involving US ground troops there, although the US has carried out several missile attacks and airstrikes in recent months on suspected militant hideouts.

“Innocent citizens of Pakistan including women and children were martyred,” Owais Ahmed Ghani, governor of the North-Western Frontier Province, said in a statement.

According to Ghani, commandos based in Afghanistan supported by three helicopter gunships carried out the “outrageous” attack in the Angor Adda area of the South Waziristan tribal district.

“This is a direct assault on the sovereignty of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan expect that the armed forces would rise up to defend the sovereignty of the country and give a befitting reply to all such attacks,” he said. — Sapa-DPA