Firing at Afghan border kills 8

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has protested to the US military in Afghanistan over firing at a Pakistani village near the Afghan border that killed eight people, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said cross-border firing from Afghanistan had killed the people in Saidgi village, in the tribal region of North Waziristan, early Saturday, but added that Pakistan was still trying to ascertain whether US helicopters landed there as claimed by local elders and who had opened fire. “We have protested to the coalition forces because they are responsible for security on the other side,” Aslam told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad.In Kabul, US military spokesman Lt.Mike Cody said he would look into the alleged incident.On Saturday, he said he had no reports of US forces firing on a village in Pakistan.The spokesman earlier did not respond to a question about whether US troops are permitted to cross into Pakistan in pursuit of militants.Those who fired on the house did not cross the border, Aslam said, but added the gunfire originated from across the border.One of the tribal elders, who spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday about the incident, also claimed that after a purported airstrike on a house in Saidgi belonging to a local cleric, five tribesmen had been picked up by the attackers and taken back to Afghanistan.”This is not our information,” Aslam said yesterday in response to that allegation, without elaborating.Tribal elders on Sunday complained to Pakistani authorities about the strike, where residents claim to have heard the sound of helicopters, gunfire and an explosion.The area is a known hide-out for alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban sympathisers and extremists, and Pakistan has deployed around 70 000 military personnel to hunt them down.- Nampa-AP”We have protested to the coalition forces because they are responsible for security on the other side,” Aslam told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad.In Kabul, US military spokesman Lt.Mike Cody said he would look into the alleged incident.On Saturday, he said he had no reports of US forces firing on a village in Pakistan.The spokesman earlier did not respond to a question about whether US troops are permitted to cross into Pakistan in pursuit of militants.Those who fired on the house did not cross the border, Aslam said, but added the gunfire originated from across the border.One of the tribal elders, who spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday about the incident, also claimed that after a purported airstrike on a house in Saidgi belonging to a local cleric, five tribesmen had been picked up by the attackers and taken back to Afghanistan.”This is not our information,” Aslam said yesterday in response to that allegation, without elaborating.Tribal elders on Sunday complained to Pakistani authorities about the strike, where residents claim to have heard the sound of helicopters, gunfire and an explosion.The area is a known hide-out for alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban sympathisers and extremists, and Pakistan has deployed around 70 000 military personnel to hunt them down.- Nampa-AP