Pakistan ? Tribesmen from a Pakistani mountain village where an airstrike hit a suspected al-Qaida hideout claimed Friday that missiles were fired from an American plane and denied the dead were terrorists.

Locals were still digging through the rubble of homes destroyed in the Tuesday airstrike of Zamzola village in South Waziristan where Pakistan’s army says its helicopter gunships killed eight suspected militants.

“This is a pack of lies,” said Jalandhar Khan, 40, holding a shovel near the ruins of a neighbor’s ruined house. “There was no al-Qaida man. Those killed or injured in this attack by America were innocent woodcutters.”

Reporters were taken to Zamzola, a remote village located in a forest about two miles from the Afghan border, by supporters of Baitullah Mehsud, a local militant leader who has vowed to avenge the airstrike.

About 70 tribesmen chanted slogans against Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and President Bush.