World | Pakistan
Pakistani soldiers killed on Afghan border
Pakistan's military has condemned the "completely unprovoked and cowardly" attack by US-led forces that killed at least 11 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border late on Tuesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 10:03 June 11, 2008
- At least 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes along the border with Afghanistan.
- Image Credit: AP
Peshawar: Pakistan on Wednesday condemned the "completely unprovoked and cowardly" attack by US-led forces that killed at least 11 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border.
A statement released by the military said the attack "hit at the very basis of cooperation" between Pakistani and US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani also condemned the attack.
"We will take a stand for sovereignty, integrity and self-respect and we will not allow our soil (to be attacked)," he told parliament.
At least 11 Pakistani troops died in a clash and an airstrike on the Afghan border, Pakistani military officials said earlier.
The clash broke out late on Tuesday after Pakistani tribesmen and security forces reportedly tried to stop security forces from Afghanistan from setting up a mountaintop post in a disputed border region.
The US military said in a statement issued on Wednesday that it had coordinated the artillery and air strike with Pakistan, but was investigating further.
"Shortly after the attack began, coalition forces informed the Pakistan army that they were being engaged by anti-Afghan forces in a wooded area near the Gorparai checkpoint," the statement said.
It said the operation "had been previously coordinated with Pakistan".
Local tribesman Damagh Khan Mohmand, who witnessed the fighting, said it lasted for four hours. He said Afghan and foreign forces traded fire with both Pakistani tribesmen and troops.
Two aircraft bombed several locations, hitting two Frontier Corps paramilitary posts in the Mohmand tribal region, Khan Mohmand said.
The Pakistani paramilitary troops died in the exchange of fire and airstrike, a military official in northwestern Pakistan said. A second military official said the airstrike was from a drone launched from Afghanistan.
The top US military spokeswoman in Afghanistan referred calls regarding the matter to the US Embassy in Pakistan, which declined comment.
Government run Pakistan Television put the death toll at 18, eight civilians and ten soldiers. It said Afghan and foreign forces had tried to set up a military post and were resisted by tribesmen.
A Nato airstrike then struck a Pakistani military post, PTV said.
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