Internet Anthropologist Think Tank: Pakistan slams US after air strike kills 11 soldiers

Pakistan slams US after air strike kills 11 soldiers
AFP ^ | 11/06/2008 12h06 | staff

Posted on 06/11/2008 8:45:53 AM PDT by gandalftb

PESHAWAR (AFP) - Pakistan condemned a "cowardly" US air strike that killed 11 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border on Wednesday".

The attack on a checkpost in Pakistan's volatile tribal zone was the first of its kind.

A Pakistani army spokesman "condemned this completely unprovoked and cowardly act" and blamed the coalition for the "aerial attack" that destroyed a paramilitary post in the Mohmand tribal region, a statement said.

It confirmed that 11 soldiers were killed including an officer.

"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," it quoted the spokesman as saying.

Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with the coalition, it said.

Heavily armed local tribesmen brandishing rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles gathered near the checkpost in the mountainous Gora Prai area to show their support after the attack, residents said.

Pakistani security officials said the deaths came after Afghan troops crossed the porous frontier and tried to occupy the strategic Pakistani post in the troubled tribal belt, which borders eastern Afghanistan.

The post was in an area that has long been disputed between the two countries.

Pakistani troops repulsed the Afghan soldiers and the coalition then bombed the area. Coalition aircraft also killed around 15 Taliban militants about a kilometre (half a mile) away, the officials said.

A spokesman for Pakistani Taliban militants, Maulvi Omar, said eight "mujahideen (holy warriors)" were killed in an air strike by coalition helicopters.

He also said the rebels had shot down a coalition helicopter and captured seven Afghan soldiers when they were returning from "attacking" the post. There was no confirmation of either claim.

(Excerpt) Read more at afp.com ...Good threads.

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Were Paki troops, taliban?

Gerald

UPDATE: 061208