US bombs kill 11 Pakistani soldiers

This is a video called Pakistan battles cause civilian casualties – 10 Oct 07.

From ninemsn news in Australia:

Missile kills 11 Pakistan soldiers

20:17 AEST Wed Jun 11 2008

By Saad Khan

Eleven Pakistan troops were killed in a US airstrike near the Afghan border, in an incident Islamabad said could jeopardise cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Pakistan’s military strongly condemned the “completely unprovoked and cowardly” attack, the first of its kind since Islamabad joined Western efforts to combat the Taliban in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The incident heightened tensions between Pakistan and US-led forces in Afghanistan, who recently warned that the new government’s decision to hold peace talks with the militants could increase cross-border infiltration.

An army statement quoting a spokesman said a paramilitary checkpost at Gora Prai in the Mohmand tribal agency was “destroyed by coalition forces in Afghanistan through aerial attack”, killing 11 troops including an officer.

“The spokesman condemned this completely unprovoked and cowardly act on the FC (Frontier Corps) post and regretted the loss of precious lives of our soldiers,” the statement said.

“He blamed the coalition forces for violent act and said that the incident had hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror,” it said.

Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with the coalition, it said.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan referred queries to the US embassy in Islamabad, which in turn said that the Pentagon was dealing with the matter. The Afghan military made no immediate comment.

Security officials said the deaths came after Afghan troops crossed the porous frontier and tried to occupy the strategic Pakistani post in the troubled tribal belt, which borders eastern Afghanistan.

The post was in an area that has long been disputed between the two countries.

Pakistani troops repulsed the Afghan soldiers and the coalition then bombed the area. …

Pakistan has protested over a series of missile strikes attributed to US-led forces in Afghanistan in recent months, including one in the tribal region of Bajaur in May that killed more than a dozen people.

Several Pakistani soldiers have also been killed by stray shells but it appears to be the first time that any have been killed by a targeted air strike by US forces.

See also here. And here.

George W. Bush respects Pakistani dictator Musharraf; but he certainly does not respect the lives of Pakistani civilians. Or of Pakistani soldiers.