ISLAMABAD, 24 January 2007 — Pakistan yesterday lodged strong protest with the United States and Britain over the killing of one of its soldiers by the coalition troops in Afghanistan. Two other soldiers were injured in the incident.
Pakistan summoned the US and British envoys after the cross-border fire.
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley were called to the Pakistani foreign office separately and a “strong protest” was lodged with coalition authorities, an official statement said. “They were told that the coalition authorities should investigate the incident and ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future,” the foreign office statement said.
The diplomats expressed “deep regrets and said that the incident was being investigated,” it added. The casualties occurred on Monday afternoon when coalition troops stationed on the Afghan side of the porous border fired upon one of Pakistan’s checkpoints near Shawal, in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district. The incident came hours after a suicide car bomber blew himself up near a Pakistani Army convoy in the troubled tribal region, killing four soldiers and a woman civilian.
Pakistan has deployed around 80,000 troops in the rugged region to hunt down Taleban and Al-Qaeda extremists who fled into the lawless region after US-led forces toppled the Taleban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Thousands of British and US troops patrol the Afghan side of the frontier to hunt down Taleban militants and their allies .
