- Jul 27, 2003
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11 Pakistan soldiers killed in border missile strike: officials PESHAWAR, June 11 (AFP): At least 11 Pakistani troops were killed and nine wounded early Wednesday when a missile fired from Afghanistan hit their border post after clashes with Afghan forces, officials said. The incident followed intense fighting between Pakistani paramilitary troops deployed in Mohmand tribal region and Afghan forces who claimed the area was part of their territory, the Pakistani officials said. ?Sometime after midnight a missile fired from the Afghan side struck our post resulting in the martyrdom of at least 11 soldiers including a commanding officer. Nine soldiers were wounded,? one security official told AFP. ?The injured and the dead bodies have been retrieved. The troops are still holding on to the post.? Officials said Pakistani forces repulsed an attempt by Afghan forces to capture strategic heights in the Soran Dara area, which borders the Afghan province of Nangarhar. The paramilitary Frontier Corps sent reinforcements to the area on Tuesday. Pakistani and Afghan military spokesmen were not immediately contactable while the US-led coalition in Afghanistan declined to comment. (First Posted @ 09:50 PST, Updated @ 12:45 PST)
How dare Americans blame us for not doing enough and giving free passage to the Taliban to carry out hit-and-run attacks when they can't even stop heavy weapon attacks and border skirmishes? The so called new Afghan army has become a nuisance and has been fighting us ever since the took control and NATO does nothing while they expect to clean up their Taliban mess! Some people may now see why the Taliban was better for us than a puppet government bent on killing its neighbors when it doesn't even control half its own territory.
This is an act of war and NATO should be held fully responsible and accountable for it.
Update
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan has expressed outrage at a U.S. airstrike in a disputed region along the Afghan border which it says killed 11 of its forces who were cooperating with the U.S.-led war on terror.
The U.S. military has not released an official statement on the incident, but a U.S. official with knowledge of the reports told CNN that Tuesday's airstrike targeted suspected militants who had fled into Pakistan after conducting an ambush on the Afghan side of the border.
The official said Pakistani military officials worked with the U.S. forces to track the militants as they fled across the border into Pakistan. He said the mission was permitted under the rules of engagement which allowed "hot pursuit" across the border of suspected militants when locations were verified.
But Pakistan's military -- which described the airstrike as a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act" -- had a different account.
The top spokesman for Pakistan army's Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN the airstrike happened after U.S. forces were called in by Afghan troops who had engaged in a border clash with Taliban forces.
The Taliban forces fired on the Afghan troops as they tried to set up a checkpoint in a disputed area along the Afghan-Pakistan border, Abbas said.
The Afghan troops then called for help from the U.S.-led coalition forces, which carried out an airstrike on positions where Pakistani frontier corps forces were stationed, Abbas said.
Muhammad Amir Rana, of Pakistan's Institute of Peace, said NATO troops also came to the area to assist Afghan soldiers.
Abbas said the airstrike killed 11 Pakistani forces, including a high-ranking major, and wounded seven others, he said.
The Pakistani military and the Foreign Ministry have issued an official protest condemning the attack, Abbas said.
A Pakistani military statement said the strike "hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in war against terror."
The unnamed U.S. official said it was not clear if the U.S. aircraft entered Pakistani airspace when they carried out the airstrikes. U.S. and Pakistani military officials tracked the militants as they fled into Pakistan and their location was verified by a U.S. drone flying overhead, he said.
Two U.S. Air Force F-15E aircraft dropped three 500-pound bombs and a single laser-guided bomb inside Pakistan, he said. Also, he said a B-1 bomber dropped six 500-pound bombs.
He added that U.S. ground forces inside Afghanistan also fired artillery toward the fleeing militants as they fled into Pakistan.
Earlier, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said its forces were fired on near the border with Pakistan and they responded.
The U.S. official said initial reports indicated seven were killed on the ground, but the U.S. military could not confirm their identities. He said the investigation would attempt to determine if Pakistani troops were among those killed either there or at nearby points where border clashes were common.
The Pakistani military said the incident happened at a military check post in Gora Prai in Mohmand Agency near the Afghan border.
Both Afghanistan and Pakistan claim Mohmand as part of their territory.
In recent months, Pakistani officials have blamed U.S-led forces of launching missile strikes into its territory from Afghanistan. One such attack in the tribal region of Bajaur killed 14 people on May 14.
The Pakistani army has said that such attacks only make the job of securing the border more difficult.
"It's not fair," Abbas told CNN. "The kind of effects it creates -- it's not only local. It's also within the country. And that is not good for any coalition.
"An act of this kind it certainly creates difficulties for both sides," he said.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are key U.S. allies in America's "war on terror."
Each side is battling a common foe -- Islamic militants who have launched deadly attacks targeting troops and civilians in both countries.
On Monday, U.S. think tank the Rand Corporation released a report that said some members of Pakistan's intelligence service and the Frontier Corps were helping insurgents in Afghanistan.
The study, funded by the U.S. Defense Department, alleged that members of the two agencies often tipped off militants to the location and movement of coalition forces trying to rout them. It also said personnel within the agencies trained fighters at camps in Pakistan, financed them and helped them cross the border into Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military denied that and denounced the report, calling it a "smear campaign" designed to "create doubts and suspicion in the minds of (the) target audience."
"This is a poorly fabricated story to create distrust between the two armed forces," the military said in a statement Tuesday.
I can now confidently say this will be the end of any Pakistani cooperation with the US and NATO in Afghanistan. Good luck dealing with landlocked Afghanistan with Iran on one side, Pakistan on another and Former Soviets republics to the north. I won't be surprised if the war in Afghanistan will now cost you more than Iraq.
Pakistan slams 'cowardly' US-led forces attack killing 11 soldiers PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 11 (AFP): Pakistan Wednesday said a ?cowardly? air strike by US-led forces killed 11 Pakistani troops Wednesday near the Afghan border and warned it could undermine cooperation in the war against terrorism. The army accused the US-led coalition in Afghanistan of launching the unprovoked attack on a checkpost in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal zone, while the foreign office called for an immediate investigation. In Kabul, the coalition admitted carrying out an air strike in Pakistani territory but said it was targeted against militants firing at them from near the Pakistani paramilitary outpost. A Pakistani army spokesman ?condemned this completely unprovoked and cowardly act.? ?The incident had hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror,? the statement quoted the spokesman as saying. ?We condemn it strongly. We will take a stand to preserve the sovereignty, dignity and respect of the country,? Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told parliament. Pakistan foreign office issued a statement condemning the ?senseless use of air power? by the coalition. ?The attack also tends to undermine the very basis of our cooperation with the coalition forces and warrants a serious rethink on their part of the consequences that could ensue from such rash acts,? it said. Heavily armed Pakistani tribesmen brandishing rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles gathered near the checkpost in the mountainous Gora Prai area to show their support to condemn the attack. The US-led coalition said an investigation was ongoing. In a statement, it said its soldiers had repelled a militant attack during an operation in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province that was previously coordinated with Pakistan. Coalition forces informed the Pakistani army that they were coming under fire from ?anti-Afghan? forces in a wooded area near the Gora Prai checkpoint in Pakistan, it said. Unmanned drone aircraft identified the militants and, ?in self defence,? the coalition fired artillery rounds and then used close-air support ?until the threat was eliminated.? However, Pakistani security officials said the deaths came after Afghan troops crossed the porous frontier and tried to occupy the strategic Pakistani post in the tribal belt. Pakistani troops repulsed the Afghan soldiers and the coalition then bombed the area. Coalition aircraft also killed around 15 Taliban militants about a kilometre away, the officials said. A spokesman for Pakistani Taliban militants, Maulvi Omar, said eight ?mujahedeen? were killed by coalition helicopters. (Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Update 2
The Pentagon has said an air strike by US forces in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, said to have killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, was legitimate.
It said US forces had acted in self-defence after coming under attack in clashes with pro-Taleban militias.
The US state department described the deaths as regrettable, and said there was a need for better communication.
Pakistan's military said earlier that the soldiers had died as a result of an "unprovoked and cowardly act".
The incident took place on Tuesday night at a border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region of Mohmand, one of Pakistan's tribal areas, across the border from Afghanistan's Kunar province.
The US military confirmed that its forces based on the Afghan side of the border had launched artillery and air strikes after coming under fire from pro-Taleban forces.
Eight Taleban militants were also killed in the clashes, a Taleban spokesman said.
The incident comes at a time of tension between Pakistan and the US over how to deal with militants in border areas, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.
A statement from coalition forces in Afghanistan made no reference to the Pakistani deaths
"Every indication we have at this point is that this was indeed a legitimate strike in defence of our forces after they came under attack," spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters.
While the US military greatly valued its relationship with its Pakistani ally, he added, US forces were "within their rights to take the action they took".
Sovereignty
Expressing regret, the US state department said the incident was a reminder that "better cross-border communications between forces is vital".
The 11 Pakistani soldiers were being buried on Wednesday in the north-western city of Peshawar.
A Pakistani army statement said the incident had "hit at the very basis of co-operation" with the US.
Prime Minister Gilani condemned the deaths in parliament saying that Pakistan's sovereignty was at stake.
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Funerals have been held for the 11 soldiers who died
A spokesman for a pro-Taleban militant group in Pakistan said it had launched an attack on US and Afghan troops trying to set up a border control post.
In Peshawar, a relative of the one of those wounded in the fighting said that US troops had opened fire on both tribespeople and Pakistani soldiers.
"Then suddenly bomber aircraft came and started bombing," Seed Aman told The Associated Press.
Lawless border
There is increasing anger in Pakistan at US strikes on its territory which have killed more than 50 people this year, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.
Taleban fighters have a strong presence in the border areas of the tribal districts and local administrators have little power there.
There is rising frustration among the Afghans and foreign troops at Pakistani efforts to negotiate peace deals with pro-Taleban militants on its side of the border.
Afghan and US-led forces accuse Islamabad of not doing enough to deny Taleban militants a hiding-place in Pakistan's tribal areas and to stop them from infiltrating the border.
They are worried that the Pakistan government's recent peace talks with the militants there will only give the Taleban more room for manoeuvre.
Pakistan denies the accusations, saying it has lost about 1,000 soldiers fighting militants in the tribal border areas.
Update 3
Afghanistan says attacks into Pakistan justified KABUL, June 15 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday threatened to attack Taliban insurgents on Pakistani soil, saying his war-torn country had a right to do so out of ?self-defence. ?Afghanistan has the right to destroy terrorist nests on the other side of the border in self-defence,? Karzai told a news conference in Kabul. ?When they cross the border from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and coalition troops, it gives us exactly the right to go back and do the same,? he added. Karzai also sent a specific warning to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Pakistan Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, saying ?Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house.? ?Fazlullah and Mehsud or any one behind them must know this, that today's Afghanistan is not the voiceless Afghanistan of yesterday. Today it has both the voice, the tools and courage for action,? Karzai said. ?We'll defeat them and we'll avenge all that they've done in Afghanistan for the past so many years,? he said. Karzai's government suffered a blow on Friday when Taliban militants blasted open the prison in Kandahar city, freeing more than 1,100 prisoners including hundreds of insurgents, according to NATO-led forces. (Posted @ 17:08 PST)
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has swiftly responded to Afghan President Hamid Karzai?s harsh warning to Pakistan saying that no one will be allowed to interfere in Pakistan's internal affairs.
President Hamid Karzai had threatened to attack militants within Pakistan's borders, saying his country had a right to do so in self-defence. According to a foreign news agency, Prime Minister Gilani said in an interview that Pakistan would not interfere in the internal affairs of any country and expects others to extend the same courtesy.
The PM said that Afghan President's statement would only hurt the sentiments of those on both sides of the border. He said Pakistan wants "friendly" ties with Kabul. Gilani reiterated that Pakistan is not involved in the war on terror to please America, but to eliminate extremism and terrorism.
WANA: One person was killed as unmanned US drones fired three guided missiles at a house in the Makeen area of South Waziristan on Saturday, a private television channel reported.
According to Express News, the drones fired three missiles at a house in a bid to target the hideout of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud. Locals have recovered one dead body from the debris of the house while more casualties are feared, it said.
Inter-Services Public Relations spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said he could not confirm the attack or the casualties. Abbas told Daily Times that neither the political agent concerned nor locals could confirm the incident, as there was no military presence in the area.
A local security official, asking not to be named, told AFP that ?extremists tried to hit the drone with a rocket-propelled grenade?. ?The place from where the grenade was fired was then struck by a missile fired by the unmanned drone killing one suspected militant,? the official said.
After the missile attack, the US drones made flights over the Shawal area of North Waziristan, where locals also fired at the planes.
Several missile strikes in the tribal belt this year have been attributed to the US-led coalition based in Afghanistan, killing a number of people.
The incident in Makeen comes just days after an airstrike by US-led coalition forces that had killed 11 Pakistani troops. US officials have said the coalition was legitimately targeting militants but has offered to conduct a joint investigation with Pakistan.
I'll post more on the helicopter intrusion later. But I feel it's only a matter of time before the Pakistani army shoots down a USAF unmanned drone in retaliation. And what the hell does Karzai want? Does he really think he needs to go about invading foreign countries while he doesn't control half his own. This won't end well for him.