Afghans Called in NATO Strike on Pakistan

Anonymous officials say troops were shot at from outposts where Pakistanis later killed
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2011 8:41 AM CST
Afghans Called in NATO Strike on Pakistan
Pakistani protestors attend a rally to condemn NATO helicopters attacks on Pakistani troops, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011.   (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

The plot thickens as the situation in Pakistan comes unglued: The NATO airstrikes that yesterday killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the border were apparently called in by none other than Afghan soldiers, who had been fired upon before dawn. Anonymous Afghan officials tell the AP that their soldiers were shot at from the direction of the two Pakistani outposts where the Pakistani soldiers were later killed; an outraged Pakistan insists that the NATO strikes were unprovoked and that there was also no militant activity in the area.

Pakistan today held the funerals of the soldiers amid intense protests. Meanwhile, hundreds of US supply trucks bound for Afghanistan are backed up after Pakistan shut down the border; the trucks could equate to sitting ducks should militants strike in an effort to further erode US-Pakistan relations. For more scenes of the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, click through the gallery. (More Pakistan stories.)

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