DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Nato Helicopters 'Kill Pakistan Checkpoint Soldiers' - Pakistan Halts Supplies After Nato Kills 25 Troops
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News & Dawn News - Pakistan(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - November 26, 2011: Pakistani officials have accused Nato helicopters of firing on a military checkpoint near Pakistan's Afghan border, killing 25 soldiers.
The "unprovoked and indiscriminate" attack took place in the Pakistani tribal region of Mohmand, the Pakistani military said in a statement.
In response, Pakistan has closed the border crossing for supplies bound for Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Nato said it was aware of "an incident" near the border and was investigating.
The alleged attack took place at the Salala checkpoint, about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the Afghan border, Reuters reports, at around 02:00 local time (21:00 GMT).
If confirmed, the attack would further complicate US-Pakistan relations, already under strain following a unilateral US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May.
Unnamed officials initially put the toll at up to eight, including an army major, but it has since risen.
At least seven soldiers were wounded.
The military gave no official toll, saying casualties were reported but details were awaited.
'Supplies halted'
Masood Kausar, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, condemned the attack in a statement, reported AFP news agency.
"Such cross-border attacks are unacceptable and intolerable," he said, adding that the government would take up the matter at the highest level and launch a thorough investigation.
In apparent response to the attack, lorries and fuel tankers were being stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar, officials and local media 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 news agency.
Pakistani troops are involved in fighting the Taliban in the crucial border region area. Hundreds of militants have been resisting attempts by the security forces to clear them from southern and south-eastern parts of the district.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities blocked the vital supply route for Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan on Saturday after a cross-border air strike killed 25 Pakistani troops, local officials said.
Trucks and fuel tankers 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.
Nato helicopters from Afghanistan intruded into northwest Pakistan and attacked a military check post near the border, killing up to 25 troops and wounding 14, Pakistani military officials said.
A senior Pakistani military officer said efforts were under way to bring the bodies to the headquarters of Mohmand tribal region from their post.
The attack would have serious repercussions as they without any reason attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep, a senior military officer said.
The attack took place around 2 a.m. in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.
Pakistani security and military officials in Mohmand said an army major was among the dead.
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 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.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is often poorly marked, and differs from maps by up to five miles in some places.
A similar incident on September 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani troops, led to the closure of one of Nato’s supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.
Nato apologised for that incident, which it said happened when Nato gunships mistook warning shots by the Pakistani forces for a militant attack.
Pakistan is a vital land route for 49 per cent of Nato’s supplies to its troops in Afghanistan, a Nato spokesman said.
The checkpoint at the centre of this latest incident was set up to prevent insurgents crossing over the border into Afghanistan, reports the BBC's Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad.
He says the movement of insurgents from the area into Afghanistan has been a concern for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force and the US.
The US has been targeting militants in Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghan border for several months, often using unmanned drone aircraft.
Last year, US helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers near the border, also prompting Pakistan to temporarily close the border to Nato supplies.
In October, Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani warned the US against taking unilateral action in nearby North Waziristan.
He said that the US should focus on stabilising Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack militant groups in the crucial border region.
Washington has for many years urged Islamabad to deal with militants in the area.
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