The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
NATO launches artillery twice across Afghan border
By Amir Shah
AP News/Excite
© June 22, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Militants in Pakistan fired
rockets at NATO bases across the border in Afghanistan,
killing three children in a village and prompting the
alliance to launch a pair of retaliatory artillery
strikes, officials said Sunday.
The clashes could heighten diplomatic tension over
Pakistan's inability to stop Islamic militants from
operating from its territory - and whether forces in
Afghanistan have the right to strike back.
NATO said five rockets were fired at one of its bases
in Khost province overnight. At least one hit a house
in Kunday, a small village which sits between two
military bases, killing the three children. Another
hit a NATO base, injuring an Afghan man.
Relatives of the children carried three caskets, draped
in colorful cloths, to a graveyard for burial Sunday
morning.
NATO said its forces responded "in self-defense" to
the attack with artillery fire on the launch site
inside Pakistani territory.
In an earlier attack Saturday, three rounds of "indirect
fire" - which often refers to mortar or rocket attacks -
landed near a NATO outpost in neighboring Paktika province,
the alliance said. Three more landed in an Afghan army
compound. No casualties were reported.
NATO said those rounds also came from inside Pakistan
and responded with artillery fire.
Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed in
insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan - the most
since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Violence has claimed
more than 1,700 lives so far this year.
Pakistan, like Afghanistan, is a key ally of the United
States in its six-year campaign against international
terrorism.
But Afghan and U.S. officials blame surging violence in
Afghanistan in part on efforts by the new Pakistani
government to make peace with Taliban militants on its
side of the mountainous frontier blamed for suicide
attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan's army has pulled back some forces from its
lawless tribal areas, where al-Qaida and the Taliban find
refuge, and has largely held fire during the peace talks -
a pause critics say has allowed insurgents to intensify
strikes into Afghanistan.
Relations were further strained when U.S. warplanes
apparently bombed a Pakistani border post in the Mohmand
tribal region this month, killing 11 Pakistani troops -
one of a series of cross-border strikes which Islamabad
has condemned as an infringement of its sovereignty.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed
regret over the Mohmand incident. However, it remains
unclear why the Pakistani post was struck.
Asked about the latest NATO artillery strikes, Maj.
Gen. Athar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistan army,
said its troops also fired mortar rounds and small arms
at the "miscreants" who attacked the base in Paktika.
He reported no casualties.
He said there was an "understanding" that Pakistani
forces would engage militants on its side of the border,
and had no confirmation of NATO's assertion that it
immediately informed Pakistani forces it was under attack.
"If they are doing it (returning fire) on their own,
it is not correct," Abbas said.
Associated Press writers Stephen Graham in Kabul,
Nashanuddin Khan in Khost and Noor Khan in Kandahar
contributed to this report.
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Last Modified:
September 21, 2008