US Bomb Kills 11 Pakistani Troops

Pakistan has condemned a "cowardly" air strike by US-led forces in Afghanistan that killed 11 of its border troops and sparked a new rift between the two allies.

The attack, attributed to a pilot less drone or an attack aircraft, occurred during a confusing firefight in Mohmand tribal area, north of the Khyber Pass, on Tuesday night.

The Pakistani army said the strike was "completely unprovoked and cowardly" and warned that it had "hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice" between the two countries.

The US military insisted it had attempted to coordinate the air and artillery strikes with Pakistan forces, but was investigating further.

US-led and Pakistani forces have clashed before on the poorly demarcated border, known by its colonial-era moniker the Durand Line. But previous incidents have been written off as "misunderstandings" and never resulted in so many fatalities.

"It doesn't give a very good impression," said analyst Khalid Aziz in Peshawar. "It leads to the question: are we really allies? Are we fighting together or against one another?"

The attack began with an exchange of fire involving Pakistani, Afghan and American soldiers and Taliban fighters at a remote mountain post named Gorporai.

A Taliban spokesman said its fighters were provoked into the fight after Afghan troops started to build a post on a contested stretch of border. But American officials insisted they were in "hot pursuit" of Taliban insurgents who initiated the attack inside Afghanistan.

The US air strike ended the exchange of fire and the dead Pakistanis, including one officer, were flown to a hospital in Peshawar.

The Taliban said eight of its soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the skirmish. A military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, denied they had attacked from Pakistan.

Ironically, most of the soldiers killed belonged to the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary group that the US army has started to train in Pakistan as part of its anti-militancy drive.

"This puts the whole issue into jeopardy," said Aziz. "You have one part of the American forces training the FC; then the other part across the border is killing them."

The Pakistani army said it had lodged a "strong protest" and that it "reserved the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression". The prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, issued a condemnation in parliament.

The controversy has rocked relations between Pakistan and America at a sensitive time. The US has been increasingly critical of Pakistani efforts to negotiate peace deals with militants across the tribal belt. Last month, General Dan McNeil, an American who has just finished a stint commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan, said meetings between the Pakistani, Afghan and American militarizes - the bedrock of cross-border military cooperation - had stopped.

And this week the Rand Corporation, a Washington-based think tank, accused Pakistani intelligence agents and soldiers of helping to train the Taliban and giving them information about American troop movements inside Afghanistan. Pakistan denies the accusations.