Seven killed in apparent NATO attack in Pakistan

U.S. has said ally wasn't doing enough to stop the Taliban

By: JournalNow Staff | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: September 04, 2008

Two helicopters carrying coalition forces landed in a Pakistani village in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan early yesterday, and the soldiers opened fire on villagers, killing seven people, according to a spokesman for the Pakistani military.

The account by the spokesman, released to reporters in Islamabad last night, described what appeared to be a first commando attack by NATO forces against the Taliban inside Pakistan.

Pakistan has lodged a "strong protest" to the American government, and reserved the right of "self-defense and retaliation," the spokesman said.

The Bush administration has admonished Pakistan in recent months for not doing enough to curb attacks by the Taliban, who keep bases inside the Pakistani tribal region and cross the border to attack American and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.

Commando operations by American forces into the tribal region have been under discussion in Washington. The action by the coalition forces yesterday in the border village appeared to be an effort to stop the Taliban raids.

NATO helicopter gunships attacked three houses near a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, killing at least 15 people, including women and children, according to local residents, a Taliban commander and the governor of the North-West Frontier province.

The attacks targeted three houses in the village of Jala Khel in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan, near a known stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaida and less than a mile from the border with Afghanistan, a Taliban commander and local residents said.

The attacks killed 20 people, according to the governor of the North-West Frontier province, Owais Ahmed Ghanisaid.

The governor, the most powerful civilian leader in the province which abuts South Waziristan, condemned the attacks and called for retaliation by Pakistan.

An American military spokesman at Bagram airbase declined to comment on the reports.

The spokesman did not deny that the attack had occurred. Often, a statement of no comment by American and NATO spokesmen in Afghanistan indicates that the coalition forces were involved in a cross-border attack.

The Taliban commander, known by the guerilla name of Commander Malang, said that the attack took place close to a Pakistani military position on the border and caused 15 deaths. The Pakistani military took no action, he said.

According to Malang, three helicopters flew to the Pakistani side of the border and one of them, carrying soldiers, landed. Soldiers who came out of the helicopter opened fire on people in the village, he said, as the other two helicopters hovered overhead.

The commander, who is based in the town of Wana, said he was not at the scene. He received the information by radio, he said. There was no way to immediately independently confirm his account.

The incursion of NATO and American aircraft and helicopters into Pakistan in so-called hot pursuit of Taliban militants is a contentious issue for Pakistan.

Publicly, the Pakistani authorities say that their country's sovereignty must be respected and they always condemn such intrusions.

At the same time, Washington has become more vocal about the increasing number of attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida forces crossing into Afghanistan, and there have been growing expectation among Pakistanis that NATO units would respond by attacking more forcefully into Pakistani territory.

The Angoor Adda area and its mud-walled compounds are known as a center of Taliban and al-Qaida activity.

Sher Khan, a phone-company employee in Angoor Adda, said in a telephone interview that 19 people were killed in the raid. He said that most of the dead were women and children.

A Pakistani intelligence official in South Waziristan said in a telephone interview that a group of Taliban had crossed the border into Afghanistan for an attack late Tuesday.

In response, the Afghan National Army called for air support, the intelligence official said, speaking on condition of customary anonymity.

The NATO helicopters chased the Taliban militants across the border back into South Waziristan, according to the intelligence official's account.

But the Taliban militants escaped, the official said.

A spokesman at Inter Services Public Relations, the arm of the Pakistani military that provides information to reporters, said that efforts were still being made to investigate the incident.