Nato violates Pak airspace second time in 24 hours
In the second raid conducted today, Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) helicopters have reportedly shelled the area of Peesha Kandaw in Mata Sangar of Upper Kurram Agency.
Initial reports suggest that choppers engaged targets inside Pakistan territory, but no immediate casualties have been reported.
Choppers earlier struck a checkpoint in Mandato Kandaho, which is about five kilometres inside Pakistan. The attack claimed three lives and left three soldiers wounded.
Last week two Nato helicopters killed 30 insurgents on Pakistani soil after a rare manned pursuit across the border from Afghanistan, Nato forces said on Sunday.
Government slams Nato air raids
The Foreign Office has reacted to Nato's violation of Pakistan airspace and said that Nato and Isaf must respect their mandate and that violations will not be allowed by Pakistan. The Foreign Office also stated that Pakistan's sovereignty will not be compromised and that it will not allow its soil to be used for terror acts.
Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Owais Ghani slammed the earlier attack on the security check post by Nato choppers, saying that Nato raids are an assault on Pakistan's sovereignty. "We will have to reconsider policy on war on terror" he said.
" The strike was an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan and its people. How could an army with latest technology make such a mistake by targeting a security checkpoint?" he said.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said Pakistan will not tolerate any such attacks on its security forces. Speaking to the media outside the parliament house in Islamabad, Malik said the government has lodged a strong protest against the first attack.
Malik said that after these attacks Pakistan will have to think whether Nato considers it a friend or a foe. He also said that Pakistan will go beyond protests to condemn the cross-border attacks.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira spoke to the media earlier today and said that Pakistan knows how to defend itself.
"The government has warned elements against making mistakes. The nation is with the armed forces in case such attacks occur" he said.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has taken up the Nato attacks on Pakistani territory with the visiting CIA Chief Leon Panetta. Sources says the CIA chief is trying to convince Pakistan's military leader*ship for an all-out operation in North Waziristan.
Pakistan has condemned the cross-border air strikes by Nato helicopters pursuing militants into its territory. Nato said it was investigating Thursday's incident, but has said previously it has the right to self-defence.
Pakistan halts Nato supplies to Afghanistan
Pakistan shut down the main land route for Nato supplies into Afghanistan on Thursday. Express 24/7 correspondent Iftikhar Firdous said that the supplies have been stopped due to security concerns in the area and not because of the cross border Nato raids.
Nato and the Pakistani government said they were investigating the reported incident in the Kurram district of Pakistan's tribal belt, which Washington has branded an al Qaeda headquarters and hub of militants fighting in Afghanistan.
"We have suspended Nato supply trucks for the time being due to security reasons," an official in Pakistan's Frontier Corps paramilitary unit told AFP in the northwestern city of Peshawar on condition of anonymity.
Two officials at the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber district and a US diplomat confirmed that Nato convoys were not being allowed to cross.