ISLAMABAD - Pakistan fired on militants who attacked a Nato outpost on the Afghan border, the alliance said on Thursday, an example of the cooperation seen as vital against the rising power of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan protests drone strike
ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN summoned US ambassador Anne Patterson on Thursday to receive a formal protest over missile strikes launched by pilotless drone aircraft against militant targets on Pakistani soil, a Pakistani foreign ministry official said.
The protest came a day after a suspected US missile strike killed six militants, possibly including an Arab Al-Qaeda operative.
Relations between Pakistan and the US are under strain because of a wave of American missile strikes on militant strongholds in Pakistan, including one on Wednesday that the government condemned as a 'grave provocation.' However, Nato and US officials say coordination between security forces along both sides of the mountainous frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan is improving.
A statement from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said insurgents hit one of its remote bases and a nearby Afghan border checkpoint with rockets in the eastern province of Paktika on Tuesday.
'After the attacks, ISAF contacted the Pakistani military for support. The Pakistani military then launched a mortar strike on the insurgents' firing location inside Pakistan,' it said.
There were no reports of Nato of Pakistani casualties. Nato didn't mention any militant losses.
Pakistani military officials were not immediately available for comment.
However, the army released a brief statement from General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani urging an end to the missile strikes.
Addressing Nato defence chiefs in Brussels on Wednesday, Gen Kayani 'highlighted the need to reinforce Pakistan's effort and operate in a coordinated manner within respective national boundaries,' the statement said.
According to Pakistani officials, at least two missiles destroyed a house in Pakistan's Bannu district before dawn on Wednesday.
Bannu adjoins North Waziristan, part of the tribal belt where Pakistan's government has little control and which is considered a possible hiding place for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani officials said they were investigating whether an Al-Qaiea member identified as Abdullah Azam al-Saudi and other militants were among six people killed.
Villagers and a local lawmaker insisted all were civilians, though provide no details on the victims' identity.
The United States has staged some 20 missile strikes and at least one commando assault inside Pakistan since August, a barrage seen as a sign of Washington's frustration with the inability of its nuclear-armed ally to curb militants blamed for rising attacks in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government complains that the attacks fan already widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and undermine its own growing efforts to combat militants.
However, the country relies heavily on US financial aid and has not gone beyond voicing criticism. Some experts question whether the leadership secretly condones the attacks while speaking out publicly against them - something the government denies. -- AP
