WASHINGTON, June 11, 2008 – Defense Department officials called a U.S. air strike yesterday in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border “legitimate” and “self-defense,” and said they are investigating the attack with Pakistani officials.

“Every indication we have at this point is that the actions that were taken by U.S. forces were legitimate, in that they were in self-defense after U.S. forces operating on the border of Pakistan in Afghanistan territory came under attack from hostile forces,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said in a news conference today.

“In self-defense, they called in an air strike, which took out those forces that were attacking them,” he added.

News articles today quoted Pakistani officials as saying the U.S. air strike killed 11 members of Pakistan’s military. However, Morrell did not confirm that members of Pakistan’s military died in the air strike.

“This is a complex attack involving an air strike and artillery and a number of forces in an area of the world and along a border that has traditionally been a problem and is often the cause of some confusion as to who the forces are that are involved,” he said.

Based upon initial reports of the attack, the State Department expressed regret over any Pakistani military killed in the attack.

“This is a regrettable incident. We're sad to see the loss of life among the Pakistani military, who are partners in fighting terror,” Gonzalo Gallegos, deputy State Department spokesman, said in a news conference today. “This is a reminder that better cross-border communications between forces is vital.”

Morrell said U.S. and Pakistani officials are investigating the incident. “We are aware of some of the concerns that have been expressed by the Pakistani army and other elements of the Pakistan government,” he said. “And I can tell you that we are working with the Pakistani government to try to get to the bottom of this incident so that they have a better understanding of it, [and] so that we have a better understanding of it.”

U.S. military officials said three coalition aircraft launched the counter strike into Pakistan, where enemy fighters fled after attacking coalition ground forces in Afghanistan’s Konar province.

“We were running company- and battalion-sized operations in that general area when our guys came under contact from enemy forces on the Afghan side of the border, and in self-defense, we responded,” a senior military official in Afghanistan, speaking on background, said today.

“There’s a lot of infiltration that goes across the border either side,” the senior official added. “So we run operations on our side of the border in combination with the Pakistanis on the other side.”

BBC :

US defends Afghan border strike

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US defends Afghan border strike

Pakistani men survey the site of a reported US air strike in Gora Prai on 11 June

A hillside appeared to have been stripped bare by fighting

The Pentagon has said an air strike by US forces in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, said to have killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, was legitimate.

It said US forces had acted in self-defence after coming under attack in clashes with pro-Taleban militias.

The US state department described the deaths as regrettable, and said there was a need for better communication.

Pakistan's military said earlier that the soldiers had died as a result of an "unprovoked and cowardly act".

The incident took place on Tuesday night at a border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region of Mohmand, one of Pakistan's tribal areas, across the border from Afghanistan's Kunar province.

The US military confirmed that its forces based on the Afghan side of the border had launched artillery and air strikes after coming under fire from pro-Taleban forces.

Pakistan-US relations hit a low

Meeting feared Pakistani militant

Eight Taleban militants were also killed in the clashes, a Taleban spokesman said.

The incident comes at a time of tension between Pakistan and the US over how to deal with militants in border areas, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

A statement from coalition forces in Afghanistan made no reference to the Pakistani deaths

"Every indication we have at this point is that this was indeed a legitimate strike in defence of our forces after they came under attack," spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters.

While the US military greatly valued its relationship with its Pakistani ally, he added, US forces were "within their rights to take the action they took".

Sovereignty

Expressing regret, the US state department said the incident was a reminder that "better cross-border communications between forces is vital".

The 11 Pakistani soldiers were being buried on Wednesday in the north-western city of Peshawar.

A Pakistani army statement said the incident had "hit at the very basis of co-operation" with the US.

Prime Minister Gilani condemned the deaths in parliament saying that Pakistan's sovereignty was at stake.

See this:

US Not At Fault In Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Clash

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Published by AJStrata at 10:00 am under All General Discussions, Bin Laden/GWOT, Pakistan

The US released its UAV ~~Predator~~ images showing militants from Pakistan firing upon coalition forces (Afghan and maybe US) inside Afghanistan, which earned them some guided munitions in response. It is important video and there is no Frontier Corps outpost in the video:

Update: In some of these shots you can see what looks like the border behind the AAF fighters (dirt road or cleared swath). It makes sense that the border has been clearly demarcated so that everyone is aware of which country they are in and what rules of engagement are to be employed. - end update.

Note that there are more and more reports that the Frontier Corps soldiers joined the Taliban fighters, probably to give them cover fire as they retreated back into Pakistan.

Indications that Pakistani soldiers were fighting alongside Taliban forces against Afghan army and US units in the border area will also bolster critics of US policy who argue that the Pakistani military is playing a “double game” and can no longer be trusted. All the same, should NATO “lose” Pakistan, it would be a devastating setback.
While the precise circumstances of the incident remain unclear, an eye witness, Taliban spokesman Zubair Mujahid, who represents the Taliban’s commanders for Kunar and Nooristan provinces in Afghanistan, told Asia Times Online by telephone: “The multiple Taliban groups operating on both sides of the border - in the Afghan Kunar Valley and in Mohmand Agency - spotted NATO forces launching into Mohmand Agency’s mountain-top Sarhasoko military post (below).
“We realized the Pakistani troops were struggling against the NATO forces so we activated our networks all over the area,” Zubair said.
“The Pakistani security forces were under siege and were at the point of being evacuated from the post when we opened fire on them [NATO] from several positions. Our attack was so unexpected for NATO that they had to retreat. The Pakistan army lost 11 soldiers, the Taliban lost eight and NATO lost 20 soldiers during the operation.”

As I noted in the previous posts this story makes no sense unless the soldiers of the Frontier Corps were actually Taliban allies, placed in the Corps so they could look the other way when their Taliban allies execute their cross-border attacks into Afghanistan. It is the only reason the Taliban would come to the aid of Pakistani soldiers. And the Frontier Corps is recruited from local tribes. It seems someone in the Pak Military or ISI is letting Taliban rebels man the border outposts.

BTW, the article linked above has a good historic perspective on how we find ourselves here.

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