.Pakistan slams US for ground strike as shots miss PM
WASHINGTON'S ambassador to Islamabad was last night given a "shellacking" by Pakistan after the first ever ground attack by US special forces inside the troubled nation.
Coming ahead of tomorrow's crucial presidential election and amid a massive security clampdown following the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistan Government's confrontation with the Bush administration was unprecedented.
Mr Gilani was unhurt as three militants, linked to al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, peppered his motorcade with high-velocity gunfire in broad daylight on the busy road linking the airport with the capital. Some reports claimed he was not in the car that was hit. But the attempt to kill him has left a pall of gloom and apprehension over an already deeply troubled Government.
The sense of despair is deepened by the near certainty that controversial candidate Asif Ali Zardari will become the all-powerful president tomorrow.
The confrontation with Washington and the attack on Mr Gilani coincided with heavy fighting against militants -- despite a proclaimed ceasefire to mark Ramadan -- in the strategic Swat valley, north of Islamabad. Jihadis warned they would step up their assault which has resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.
Almost 50 police cadets in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan were abducted by militants and led away to an uncertain fate.
There are fears the militants will be in no mood to negotiate following the unprecedented US ground incursion, and may execute the hostages.
"Finally, they've crossed the threshold, they've sent in ground forces to attack a target inside Pakistan," a leading military analyst said. "It is a watershed moment, one that we have all feared and hoped would never happen because the reality is that the militants have vowed to go all out to avenge such attacks."
At least 20 people were killed in the targeted, helicopter-borne assault by what are believed to have been US special forces on the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan, a hotbed of al-Qa'ida and Taliban-linked militancy.
Last night, US ambassador Anne Patterson was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad and, in the words of one senior official, "given a real shellacking". "She was read the riot act and left in no doubt that we are outraged and deeply offended by this gross violation on our sovereignty."
An official statement described the attack as "a grave provocation" and said that "such actions are counter-productive and certainly do not help our joint efforts to fight terrorism".
Villagers say the US special forces arrived in three helicopters while other gunships and Predator drones patrolled overhead. They are claimed to have fired indiscriminately at three houses, killing at least 20 people, most of them women and children.
"The Americans came in helicopters, landed, walked up to the houses, started shooting and throwing grenades, then left and flew back towards Afghanistan," one villager told a reporter.
Another denied there were any militants in the village, and said he had seen the bodies of the dead piled up outside two houses, all apparently shot in the head.
The attack was confirmed by officials from the NATO command in Afghanistan. South Waziristan, the lair of leading Pakistani militant Baitullah Mehsud, has frequently been suggested as a possible base for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas warned that the attack would undermine efforts to isolate Islamic extremists and could threaten NATO's supply lines, which snake from Pakistan's port city of Karachi through the militant-infested tribal areas to Afghanistan.
"We cannot afford a huge uprising at the tribe level. That would be completely counter-productive and doesn't help the cause of fighting terrorism."
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr Zardari claimed last night that he could win by a huge, two-thirds majority when the electoral college meets in Islamabad tomorrow to select a new president to succeed Mr Musharraf.
Senior minister Ahmad Mukhter said he believed Mr Zardari was poised to get at least 500 of the 700 votes tomorrow.
The Australian
Like they needed an excuse to behead them all and put the video up on youtube.
Yeah sure it's the Americans fault...
Coming ahead of tomorrow's crucial presidential election and amid a massive security clampdown following the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistan Government's confrontation with the Bush administration was unprecedented.
Mr Gilani was unhurt as three militants, linked to al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, peppered his motorcade with high-velocity gunfire in broad daylight on the busy road linking the airport with the capital. Some reports claimed he was not in the car that was hit. But the attempt to kill him has left a pall of gloom and apprehension over an already deeply troubled Government.
The sense of despair is deepened by the near certainty that controversial candidate Asif Ali Zardari will become the all-powerful president tomorrow.
The confrontation with Washington and the attack on Mr Gilani coincided with heavy fighting against militants -- despite a proclaimed ceasefire to mark Ramadan -- in the strategic Swat valley, north of Islamabad. Jihadis warned they would step up their assault which has resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.
Almost 50 police cadets in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan were abducted by militants and led away to an uncertain fate.
There are fears the militants will be in no mood to negotiate following the unprecedented US ground incursion, and may execute the hostages.
"Finally, they've crossed the threshold, they've sent in ground forces to attack a target inside Pakistan," a leading military analyst said. "It is a watershed moment, one that we have all feared and hoped would never happen because the reality is that the militants have vowed to go all out to avenge such attacks."
At least 20 people were killed in the targeted, helicopter-borne assault by what are believed to have been US special forces on the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan, a hotbed of al-Qa'ida and Taliban-linked militancy.
Last night, US ambassador Anne Patterson was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad and, in the words of one senior official, "given a real shellacking". "She was read the riot act and left in no doubt that we are outraged and deeply offended by this gross violation on our sovereignty."
An official statement described the attack as "a grave provocation" and said that "such actions are counter-productive and certainly do not help our joint efforts to fight terrorism".
Villagers say the US special forces arrived in three helicopters while other gunships and Predator drones patrolled overhead. They are claimed to have fired indiscriminately at three houses, killing at least 20 people, most of them women and children.
"The Americans came in helicopters, landed, walked up to the houses, started shooting and throwing grenades, then left and flew back towards Afghanistan," one villager told a reporter.
Another denied there were any militants in the village, and said he had seen the bodies of the dead piled up outside two houses, all apparently shot in the head.
The attack was confirmed by officials from the NATO command in Afghanistan. South Waziristan, the lair of leading Pakistani militant Baitullah Mehsud, has frequently been suggested as a possible base for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas warned that the attack would undermine efforts to isolate Islamic extremists and could threaten NATO's supply lines, which snake from Pakistan's port city of Karachi through the militant-infested tribal areas to Afghanistan.
"We cannot afford a huge uprising at the tribe level. That would be completely counter-productive and doesn't help the cause of fighting terrorism."
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr Zardari claimed last night that he could win by a huge, two-thirds majority when the electoral college meets in Islamabad tomorrow to select a new president to succeed Mr Musharraf.
Senior minister Ahmad Mukhter said he believed Mr Zardari was poised to get at least 500 of the 700 votes tomorrow.
The Australian
Like they needed an excuse to behead them all and put the video up on youtube.
Yeah sure it's the Americans fault...
posted by madtom at 9:40 PM
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