"Pakistani Fatalities In US Coalition Incursion"

U.S.-led coalition forces along the volatile Afghan border launched an airstrike that killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops, Pakistan's army said Wednesday. The military condemned it as an act of aggression within Pakistan's border that "hit at the very basis of cooperation" in the war on terrorism.

The coalition said it used artillery and aerial drones against attackers who opened fire on forces operating inside Afghanistan. It said coalition forces did not enter Pakistan.

The incident late Tuesday followed a reported clash between Afghan forces and coalition forces and Taliban militants in the same area. The Taliban said eight of its fighters died in the skirmish.

The Pakistani army said the coalition airstrike hit a post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and was a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act."

It launched a strong protest and reserved "the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression," the military said in a statement. The statement said the clash in the Mohmand tribal region "had hit at the very basis of cooperation" between the allies in the war on terror.

In a statement issued from Afghanistan, the coalition said it had retaliated after its forces came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire about 200 yards inside Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province during an operation that had been "previously coordinated" with Pakistan. The coalition fired artillery, and then using drones to locate more "anti-Afghan forces," launched airstrikes "until the threat was eliminated."

The coalition said that it had informed the Pakistan army that it was being attacked from a wooded area near the Pakistani checkpoint at Gorparai — where the Pakistani Frontier Corps troops were killed.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied the insurgents attacked from Pakistan or that there had been any attack launched from the Gorparai post. He also denied the coalition had given prior notice of its operation in the area.

He said Afghan army forces were attacked inside Afghanistan as they were withdrawing at Pakistan's request after setting up a military post in a disputed border region.

"They were on their way back and they were attacked by insurgents in their own territory," he said, adding that Afghans had called in coalition airstrikes which hit the Pakistani Frontier Corps troops across the border.

In Islamabad, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan "vehemently condemned" the airstrike.

"We will take a stand for the sovereignty, dignity and self-respect of this country," he told Parliament.

Pakistani officials said the fighting broke out Tuesday after Afghan troops tried to set up a mountaintop post in a contested part of the lawless frontier and Pakistani security forces told them to withdraw.

Local tribesman Damagh Khan Mohmand said the Afghan forces had moved into the area around Speena Sooka, or White Peak, on Monday evening and were supported by foreign troops. There was no confirmation of that from the U.S.-led coalition or NATO security force in Afghanistan.

Khan Mohmand said tribesmen traded fire with the Afghan and foreign forces, and said Pakistani security forces also opened fire — although the military disputed that.

Khan Mohmand said he saw drones and that two aircraft had bombed several locations.

Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for an umbrella group of Pakistani Taliban, said militants had resisted an incursion into Pakistan.

He said between 60 and 100 of its fighters attacked NATO and Afghan army troops who had set up bunkers and tents on Pakistani soil. He claimed up to 40 Afghan troops were killed, several captured and that a NATO helicopter was shot down. Eight Taliban troops also died in the fighting, he said.

None of his claims could be independently confirmed.

North West Frontier Province Gov. Owais Ahmed Ghani told reporters later at a funeral ceremony for the troops that such an attack "can compel us to review our policy (in the war on terror)."

Anti-U.S. sentiment is already running high in Pakistan, where the newly elected civilian rulers are seeking to broker peace with militants to curb an explosion in extremist violence.

Western officials are concerned that peace deals could give more space for Taliban and al-Qaida militants to operate.

The U.S. has in the past used unmanned drones to attack suspected militants inside Pakistan.

Pakistan does not allow foreign troops to conduct military operations on its territory. It says aerial attacks launched from Afghanistan are a violation of its sovereignty.

   The next US President, whether Barack Obama or John McCain, will have to determine how much further is the American military going to go in President Bush's "War On Terror"? Though  Senator Obama is committed to timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, he is looking to expand the military front in Afghanistan and to Pakistan. It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan....

    Pakistan is right to defend it's sovereignty and land from foreign incursion. The tie between the Taliban and Pakistan is very strong and intricate. In pursuing Osama Bin Ladin and al-queda, America must respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, in my opinion. The US puppet governments of Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Afghnistan's Hamid Karzai are soon to end and the Taliban may once again rise to power and influence in these Muslim countries. In my opinion, America must respect such a turn of political events. I believe, with Libertarians and Ron Paul, that America should withdraw form all foreign soil and concentrate on defending Her own borders. War mongering and profiteering neocons will gladly stand behind Obama, if he goes to war with Pakistan or Iran. Rest assured, the neocons have their eyes on Barack Obama. War, on  any front, is against America's interests, in my opinion. Leave Pakistan alone, Obama.

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