Pakistan has formally protested to the United States and Britain on Tuesday over cross-border fire by international forces in Afghanistan that killed one of its soldiers and wounded two.
The foreign forces apparently mistook Pakistan's paramilitary troops, in their traditional shalwar and kamees tunics, for militants and fired on them at Zangota checkpost in North Waziristan tribal region on Monday.
Summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, the American and British envoys were told that "the coalition authorities should investigate the incident and ensure that such incidents do not occur in future", the Ministry said in a statement. "Both (envoys) expressed deep regrets and said that the incident was being investigated." Afghanistan's Nato force said the incident happened following an insurgent rocket attack near a Nato base on the border.
"Shortly afterwards, a group of insurgents was identified moving east towards the Pakistan border," Nato said. A Nato aircraft attacked the insurgents and Nato said it believed "all ordnance fired landed on the target and one insurgent was killed and another injured".
"ISAF deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained by Pakistani forces, although the cause of these casualties, and who is responsible, is as yet unclear," the Nato force, known as the International Security Assistance Force, said in a statement. A joint Nato-Pakistani investigation had been convened, it said.
Comments
Comments are closed.