.US says it fired at insurgents in Pakistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. troops in Afghanistan launched a barrage of artillery at insurgents attacking their position from inside Pakistan's volatile tribal region, in a cross-border strike coordinated with Pakistan's military, U.S. and NATO officials said Tuesday.
The strike less than a mile inside Pakistan came after the militants fired rockets at a U.S. position in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida and Taliban militants have long found refuge in the border region, where they launch attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Sunday's operation highlights growing cooperation between Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. officers, military officials said.
Coordination meetings have resumed between Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. officers, while the U.S. has deployed extra troops to help seal the border while Pakistan's military conducts an offensive against militants in Bajur, an unruly tribal area that is a rumored hiding place of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
"This recent event is yet another example of our close cooperation with Pakistan's military and our (Afghan National Security Forces) partners in responding to a common enemy," said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan.
Sunday's operation came at an especially sensitive time, with a surge in U.S. missile strikes deepening already widespread antipathy among Pakistanis toward the presence of Western forces in the region.
Pakistan, which has publicly protested the missile strikes, would not confirm any military operation on its side of the frontier - an indication of the delicate balance it has struck in the face of public discontent over its role in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Since mid-August, the United States is suspected of launching 19 missiles from unmanned drones based in Afghanistan, killing scores of suspected extremists and angering the Pakistani government.
On Sunday, U.S. troops in the Bermel area in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province fired 20 rounds into Pakistan after insurgents across the border launched the rockets at their outpost, officials said. The U.S. troops were there as part of a NATO-led force.
The artillery barrage hit nearly 1,200 feet inside Pakistan, said a NATO spokesman, who requested anonymity in line with NATO regulations.
A secondary explosion where the artillery barrage was directed indicated the site contained additional munitions, a NATO statement said. It did not say if there were any militant deaths.
In an official statement on Tuesday, the Pakistani military said only that a NATO outpost was attacked by militants Sunday and that NATO troops "engaged the fleeing militants" on the Afghan side of the border, while informing a Pakistani military post of their actions.
Asked whether any strike occurred inside Pakistan, a Pakistani army spokesman refused to go beyond the statement.
Over the past month, NATO and Pakistani forces have been cooperating in so-called Operation Lion Heart - a series of complementary operations that involve the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, and NATO on the Afghan side, said Col. John Spiszer, U.S. commander in northeast Afghanistan.
"What we have done is worked very hard to refocus our ... intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance assets to do everything we can to identify transiting across the border," he told a Pentagon news conference in Washington.
Speaking by video conference from Nangahar Province, he said the cooperating military forces were working to stop "any enemy forces that are either coming this way trying to escape Pakistan or going that way trying to reinforce into Pakistan."
Commanders hope pressure on both sides of the border will eventually mean militants will be "running out of options on places to go," Spiszer said.
Meanwhile, clashes in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed more than 30 people, officials said Tuesday, including seven killed Monday after Pakistani Taliban attacked pro-government tribal elders.
The gunbattle in Bajur killed a Taliban commander as well as two guards of the elders' compound, said Israr Khan, a government representative. Four elders also died when an explosion hit the compound, he said. It was unclear what caused the blast.
In Afghanistan, insurgents in western Farah province ambushed an Afghan army supply convoy, killing five troops and wounding five others, said Gen. Fazludin Sayar, the army commander for the western region. Sayar said five insurgents also died in the clash in Farah's Bala Buluk region on Monday.
Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan are up 30 percent from 2007, military officials say. A tally of official figures provided to The Associated Press show that more than 5,400 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year. Most of the casualties are suspected militants.
MyWay
The strike less than a mile inside Pakistan came after the militants fired rockets at a U.S. position in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida and Taliban militants have long found refuge in the border region, where they launch attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Sunday's operation highlights growing cooperation between Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. officers, military officials said.
Coordination meetings have resumed between Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. officers, while the U.S. has deployed extra troops to help seal the border while Pakistan's military conducts an offensive against militants in Bajur, an unruly tribal area that is a rumored hiding place of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
"This recent event is yet another example of our close cooperation with Pakistan's military and our (Afghan National Security Forces) partners in responding to a common enemy," said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan.
Sunday's operation came at an especially sensitive time, with a surge in U.S. missile strikes deepening already widespread antipathy among Pakistanis toward the presence of Western forces in the region.
Pakistan, which has publicly protested the missile strikes, would not confirm any military operation on its side of the frontier - an indication of the delicate balance it has struck in the face of public discontent over its role in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Since mid-August, the United States is suspected of launching 19 missiles from unmanned drones based in Afghanistan, killing scores of suspected extremists and angering the Pakistani government.
On Sunday, U.S. troops in the Bermel area in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province fired 20 rounds into Pakistan after insurgents across the border launched the rockets at their outpost, officials said. The U.S. troops were there as part of a NATO-led force.
The artillery barrage hit nearly 1,200 feet inside Pakistan, said a NATO spokesman, who requested anonymity in line with NATO regulations.
A secondary explosion where the artillery barrage was directed indicated the site contained additional munitions, a NATO statement said. It did not say if there were any militant deaths.
In an official statement on Tuesday, the Pakistani military said only that a NATO outpost was attacked by militants Sunday and that NATO troops "engaged the fleeing militants" on the Afghan side of the border, while informing a Pakistani military post of their actions.
Asked whether any strike occurred inside Pakistan, a Pakistani army spokesman refused to go beyond the statement.
Over the past month, NATO and Pakistani forces have been cooperating in so-called Operation Lion Heart - a series of complementary operations that involve the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, and NATO on the Afghan side, said Col. John Spiszer, U.S. commander in northeast Afghanistan.
"What we have done is worked very hard to refocus our ... intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance assets to do everything we can to identify transiting across the border," he told a Pentagon news conference in Washington.
Speaking by video conference from Nangahar Province, he said the cooperating military forces were working to stop "any enemy forces that are either coming this way trying to escape Pakistan or going that way trying to reinforce into Pakistan."
Commanders hope pressure on both sides of the border will eventually mean militants will be "running out of options on places to go," Spiszer said.
Meanwhile, clashes in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed more than 30 people, officials said Tuesday, including seven killed Monday after Pakistani Taliban attacked pro-government tribal elders.
The gunbattle in Bajur killed a Taliban commander as well as two guards of the elders' compound, said Israr Khan, a government representative. Four elders also died when an explosion hit the compound, he said. It was unclear what caused the blast.
In Afghanistan, insurgents in western Farah province ambushed an Afghan army supply convoy, killing five troops and wounding five others, said Gen. Fazludin Sayar, the army commander for the western region. Sayar said five insurgents also died in the clash in Farah's Bala Buluk region on Monday.
Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan are up 30 percent from 2007, military officials say. A tally of official figures provided to The Associated Press show that more than 5,400 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year. Most of the casualties are suspected militants.
MyWay
posted by madtom at 10:23 PM
1 Comments:
Yay, US. Kill more innocent civilians!
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