Pakistan/Afghanistan

"Cowardly" airstrike kills eleven troops, Pakistani military

Article published on the 2008-06-11 Latest update 2008-06-12 06:12 TU

A wounded Mohmand tribesman at a hospital in Peshawar
(Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan's military claims that a US airstrike has killed at least eleven of its troops and dubbed the attack "completely unprovoked and cowardly". The incident, in the tribal area of Mohmand, heightens tensions between the Pakistani government and Washington. No comment has yet been made by the US or Afghan authorities.

A Pakistani army statement says that a paramilitary checkpost at Gora Prai in the Mohmand tribal agency, was completely destroyed "by coalition forces in Afghanistan through aerial attack", killing eleven troops, including an officer. Civilians also appear to have been injured.

It added that the attack "hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror".

Security officials say that the attack took place after Afghan troops crossed the frontier into the area, which the two countries dispute, and tried to occupy the post. The US-led coalition bombed the area when Pakistani troops repelled the Afghans, they say.

Correspondent Behroz Khan says that the death toll is now reported to be 13 military personnel and ten suspected armed fighters and that the attack was in retaliation for a cross-border raid.

"The reports that we have are that first the militants from the Pakistani tribal area attacked a security post inside Afghanistan," he told RFI. "In retaliation, the coalition forces and Afghan National Army, they attacked the Pakistani checkpost  and during the last night’s clashes these casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side."   

Officials say that coalition aircraft also killed about 15 Taliban fighters about a kilometre away. The Taliban confirm eight of the deaths and claim to have shot down a helicopter and captured seven Afghan soldiers.

Pakistan has protested over a series of missile strikes in the tribal agencies, which local people say have claimed civilian lives. Its government has broken with President Pervez Musharraf's close cooperation with Washington's strategy by negotiating with the so-called "Pakistani Taliban".