Asked whether he would express regret for Friday's attack, spokesman Scott McClellan declined to confirm that the United States had carried it out but said Washington would continue to target the terrorist network.

"I don't ever get into discussing any specific operational activities, or even alleged operational activities," he told reporters amid anger in Pakistan over the strike.

"Pakistan is a valued ally in the war on terrorism. We work closely with Pakistan and others to go after al Qaeda and bring their leaders to justice, and we will continue to do so," said the spokesman.

"The president made it very clear that we are going to continue to pursue al Qaeda leaders and bring them to justice. There are a number that have been brought to justice, and we will continue to do so," said McClellan.

"Al-Qaeda continues to seek to do harm to the American people. There are leaders that we continue to pursue, and we will bring them to justice. The American people expect us to do so, and that's what this president is committed to doing," he said.

Prodded on whether it might be beneficial for the Bush administration to express regret if US airstrike accidentally hit civilians, McClellan replied:

"I think you've heard our comments about matters of that nature in the past.

"If I have anything additional to add, I will," he said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Tuesday that Islamabad cannot accept actions like an air strike on a village that killed 18 people, adding that he will bring it up when he visits Washington this week.

Officials in the tribal zone where the missile landed said separately that the strike was aimed at foreign militants invited to a dinner and that up to five of them were killed -- the first such confirmation by Pakistan.

The air raid on Friday in Damadola, a village in the Bajur tribal agency, targeted Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, US intelligence sources have said, although Washington has not confirmed it launched the attack.

Pakistan lodged an official protest with the US embassy on Saturday and thousands of people chanting "Down with America" took to the streets in angry protests in major cities the following day.

related report

Pakistan Says Air Strike Killed Five Foreign Militants
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) Jan 17 - Pakistan said Tuesday that last week's alleged US missile attack in its border area was aimed at foreign militants invited to a dinner and up to five of them were killed.

It was the first confirmation by Pakistan that the attack in Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan targeted "foreign" militants -- official shorthand here for suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

US intelligence had initially reported that Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri may have died in the attack by a Central Intelligence Agency Predator drone, although officials later said he was not killed.

"The missile attack on a village in Damadola area of Bajur agency on the night between 12th and 13th January was directed against foreign terrorists," said an official statement quoting Fahim Wazir, Bajur's head of administration.

"According to our information at least four to five foreign elements had also been killed in this incident but their bodies were removed from the scene within no time by their companions," the statement said.

It said a joint investigation team comprising various government agencies revealed that up to 12 foreign "miscreants" were also invited to the dinner which caused the attack.

The statement regretted the killing of "18 innocent local people" in the strike.

It said that two local militants, Maulana Faqir Mohammad and Maulana Liaqat, removed the bodies of the foreign extremists killed in the attack to "suppress the actual reason of the attack."

The air strike sparked mass protests in Pakistan after villagers insisted that only innocent civilians were killed in the attack blamed on the US-led forces stationed across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is leaving for a trip to the United States later Tuesday, condemned the attack, saying that his country would not accept such actions by other countries on its territory.

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