The US embassy in Islamabad has justified the Tuesday missile strike by the coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan on the Pakistani security forces.
Releases video of clash along Afghan border to back its account on the raid
ISLAMABAD: The US embassy in Islamabad has justified the Tuesday missile strike by the coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan on the Pakistani security forces in Mohmand Agency that killed 30 people, saying the attack was actually triggered when the Pakistani Frontier Constabulary troops ambushed Afghan forces on their own territory inside Afghanistan.
The US embassy in Islamabad on Thursday officially conveyed to the foreign official that the air strike was triggered when the Pakistani security forces attacked a check post of the Afghan forces on the Afghan territory near Gora Prai area on the Pak-Afghan border in Mohmand Agency.
To support its version, the coalition on Thursday took the unusual step of releasing excerpts of a video shot by a surveillance drone circling above the mountainous battle zone.
The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off-camera in the valley below.
According to the voiceover in the video, the ridge is in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, about 200 yards from the Pakistan border and close to the Gorparai checkpoint.
The attack, besides killing 19 civilians, left 11 Pakistani security personnel dead including one Major and seven critically injured while 10 troops are still reported missing. The attack on its soldiers seems to have shaken the confidence of the Pakistan Army in its cooperation with the Americans in the ongoing war against terrorism.
This is evident by the stringent statement of the Pakistani military spokesman who condemned the attack as cowardly and warned that the attack has hit at the very basis of cooperation between Pakistani and US-led forces in Afghanistan. “We reserve the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression” he stated.
Observers maintain that such a strong statement may be a reflection of two factors: One, the high casualty in the attack of the Pakistani military men — soldiers and officers. Two, the rising concern over the discrepancy between the statements made by the visiting top US officials and the American officials testifying before US Congressional Committees over their perception regarding Pakistan’s support in the war on terror.
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