Protest lodged with US over border strike
By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—The US-led coalition in Afghanistan on Thursday said it had launched a “precision-guided” strike on a militant compound in Pakistan, after Pakistan’s army said four civilians were killed by US fire. Pakistan, which forbids all foreign military activity on its soil, said it had lodged a “very strong protest” after two women and two children were killed by stray US shells in the North Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday.
A Kabul-based spokesperson for the coalition, which led the toppling of the Taliban regime in late 2001, said it could not comment directly on the Pakistani account but confirmed it had launched a strike. “We can confirm a precision-guided ammunition strike on March 12 on a compound connected with Haqqani network 1,5km across the border in Pakistan,” coalition spokesperson Major Chris Belcher said.
The Haqqani network refers to militants led by Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is allegedly based in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. “I do not have any information on any casualties that may have occurred,” the spokesperson said. Chief Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said earlier that “The coalition forces were firing at a group of militants when five shells landed in Pakistan, destroying a house and killing two women and two children.” “We have lodged a very strong protest with the coalition forces across the border,” he said.
Belcher said, “The information I have is that the government of Pakistan was notified immediately following the strike.” “It is not the first time that they (coalition forces) have had to respond to an imminent threat across the border in Pakistan. Every time we do, we clear that with Pakistani authorities.” Several previous missile strikes in the region have been attributed to the United States, including one that supposedly killed senior al-Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi in North Waziristan in January.
Pakistan lodged a protest with coalition forces in Afghanistan on Thursday after two Pakistani women and two children were killed by US fire from across the border, the army said. The US-led coalition, which helped to topple Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in late 2001, confirmed that it had launched a “precision guided” strike on Pakistani territory but said it targeted a militant compound.
The issue of foreign military intervention in Pakistan is sensitive, with President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally, saying earlier this year that unauthorised actions would be treated as an invasion.
Chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said coalition artillery fire destroyed the victims’ house in the troubled tribal region of North Waziristan, an alleged haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
“The coalition forces were firing at a group of militants when five shells landed in Pakistan, destroying a house and killing two women and two children,” Abbas told.
“We have lodged a very strong protest with the coalition forces across the border,” he said. Local officials said the house in the town of Lwara Mundi, a hotbed of militancy on the frontier where there have been frequent clashes between security forces and militants, belonged to a local tribesman.