Nato Strike: Pakistan Buries Dead Soldiers As Anger Mounts

Monday, 28 November 2011, 15:17 IST
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan buried its 24 soldiers killed in a cross-border air strike by Nato aircraft amidst mounting public anger over the incident that has pushed the already strained ties with the US to a new low.

Senior military commanders, including army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and civilian leaders like Khyber- Pukhtunkhawa Governor Masood Kausar attended the funeral prayer in Peshawar for the soldiers killed in yesterday's attack in Mohmand tribal region.

The officials laid wreaths on coffins draped with green and white Pakistani flags.

Later, the bodies were sent to their hometowns of the soldiers for burial.

Kayani visited the military hospital in Peshawar and met other soldiers who were injured in the incident.

The attack by Nato aircraft took the already strained Pakistan-US ties to a new low.

Bilateral ties have been buffeted since the beginning of the year by a series of incidents, including the killing of two Pakistani men by CIA contractor Raymond Davis and the US military raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

The Pakistan Army put the death toll in the Nato air strike at 24 though officials were quoted by the media as saying that 28 soldiers were killed.

Two officers - Maj Mujahid Hussain and Capt Usman Ali - were among the dead.

Pakistanis took to social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to express their dismay and concern and the media reflected the public anger over the attack.

"US stabs Pakistan in the back, again," said a headline in the Daily Times while headline in The Express Tribune read: "Pakistan inflamed as 24 killed in Nato strike".

Nato chief regrets killing of Pakistani soldiers in air strike

Meanwhile, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussenn on Sunday expressed his regret to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for the "tragic unintended" killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike along its border with Afghanistan.

"I have written to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to make it clear that the deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel," he said in a statement.

"I offer my deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the Pakistani officers and soldiers who lost their lives or were injured, and to the government and people of Pakistan, following the regrettable incident along the Afghan-Pakistani border," Rasmussen added.

Nato helicopters and combat aircraft attacked two Pakistani military border posts in the restive Mohmand tribal region at 2 am yesterday, killing 24 soldiers.

Pakistan strongly reacted to the incident and told the US that the "senseless" attack negated progress in improving ties and forced it to revisit terms of engagement.

However, the Nato chief said the coalition remains strongly committed to work with Pakistan to improve cooperation to avoid such tragedies in the future.

"This was a tragic unintended incident. I fully support the ISAF investigation which is currently underway. We will determine what happened, and draw the right lessons," he said.

Rasmussen's remarks came a day after Pakistan's Defence Committee of the Cabinet decided to "close with immediate effect the Nato/ISAF logistics supply lines".

 


Source: PTI