ISLAMABAD, 22 May 2004 — US troops entered Pakistani tribal territory bordering Afghanistan for the second time this month, sparking an official protest from Islamabad, officials said yesterday. The incursion occurred Thursday in North Waziristan tribal area when they crossed the border during a search operation in a village parts of which are on both sides of the border, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said.
“The US troops were conducting a search operation in the village on the Afghan side when they crossed into Pakistani side and searched three houses on our side,” Khan told AFP. “Our military authorities have lodged a protest with the coalition authorities,” Khan said.
Dozens of US soldiers crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan while probing a shooting incident on their side on May 8.
The US soldiers in armored vehicles entered the market town of Lwara, three kilometers from the Afghan border, inquired from Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers about a firing incident in the area and went back.
When Pakistan protested, US authorities said the crossing occurred amid an ongoing operation by their forces on the Afghan side of the border as they hunt for Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants.
Afghan and US officials complain militants often cross into sanctuaries in the Pakistani tribal area after attacks.
Loud Explosions Rock Southwestern Pakistani Port Town
At least seven rockets hit southwestern Pakistani coastal city of Gwadar early yesterday but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.
“Some seven or eight rockets were fired that flew over airport building and fell in the field,” Liaqat Ali Khan, an official of Airport Security Force told AFP.
He said the rockets caused no damage.
Earlier a senior provincial police official said the explosions were heard at around 2.30 a.m. (2130 GMT) in the vicinity of the airport, located some 16 kilometers from the main town.
“We are investigating the cause of explosions,” he said. Gwadar lies some 580 kilometers southwest of Quetta on the Arabian Sea coast.
