NATO attack leaves Pakistani soldiers dead in tribal areas

Pakistan’s Foreign Office has condemned NATO’s strike on Pakistani check post in the tribal area agency near the Pak-Afghan border inside the Pakistani territory. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua stated in
her statement, “Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has condemned in the strongest terms the Nato/Isaf attack on the Pakistani post. On his direction, the matter is being taken (up) by the foreign ministry in the strongest terms with Nato and the US.”

A total number of two military officers and 28 soldiers had been killed in the attack by NATO and that eleven were wounded at the Salala checkpoint which is situation around about 2.5 kilometres from the Afghan border. The attack
itself took place in the late hours of night in the Baizai area of Mohmand agency where Pakistani troops are fighting against local Taliban elements.

A senior Pakistani military officer has already added to the controversy that there will be serious repercussions for NATO as they attacked the Pakistani soldiers in their sleep and without reason and warning.  NATO supply trucks
and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said.

“We have halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud,” Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters. Another official said the supplies had been stopped for security
reasons. “There is possibility of attacks on NATO supplies passing through the volatile Khyber tribal region, therefore we sent them back towards Peshawar to remain safe,” he said. Pakistan is a vital land route for 49 per cent of NATO’s supplies to its troops
in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said the coalition there was aware of “an incident” and was gathering more information. The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is often poorly marked, and differs
between maps by up to five miles in some places. The incident occurred a day after US General John Allen met Pakistani Army Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to discuss border control and enhanced cooperation.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=4821

Posted by Hamza Jahangir on Nov 26 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry