(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Pakistani government has given the US fifteen days to vacate an airfield in Balochistan province after an alleged cross-border attack which killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers.
The attack on a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan also wounded at least a dozen soldiers. A spokesman for the NATO-led alliance in Afghanistan confirmed on Saturday that it was "highly likely" the alliance's aircraft killed Pakistani soldiers.
"Close air support was called in, in the development of the tactical situation, and it is what highly likely caused the Pakistan casualties," General Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told the Reuters news agency.
The incident prompted Pakistan to summon the US ambassador in Islamabad, lodge a protest with NATO, and shut a vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government also gave the US fifteen days to vacate Shamsi air base.
The decision came after Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, called an emergency meeting of his military chiefs. The foreign ministry also summoned Cameron Munter, the US ambassador in Islamabad, to "lodge a strong protest" against the attack.
"The foreign secretary conveyed to the US ambassador that the unprovoked attack by NATO/ISAF aircrafts on border posts in which 25 Pakistani troops lost their lives and another 13 were injured had deeply incensed the government and the people of Pakistan," the ministry said in a statement.
The Obama administration pledged to conduct a full investigation into the attack.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta in a joint statement on Saturday said they had each spoken to their Pakistani counterparts to express their condolences for the loss of life and expressed their full support for "NATO's intention to investigate immediately."
A Pakistani government official said the dead from Friday night's attack in the Mohmand tribal area included two officers.
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26 November 2011 - 20:30
News ID: 280629
The Pakistani government has given the US fifteen days to vacate an airfield in Balochistan province after an alleged cross-border attack which killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers.
