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Pakistan protests NATO killings

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has lodged a protest with NATO over the killing of several civilians in its border area in shelling by coalition forces from Afghanistan at the weekend. At least nine persons were killed when shells fired from across the border hit a mountainous border area in North Waziristan on Saturday. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force admitted that during an operation against militants along the border, one of its rockets had accidentally hit a civilian home in Pakistan. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aslam said the incident “underscores the need for better co-ordination, care and restraint” by NATO forces. “We have protested today to NATO and we condemn the killing of civilians,” she said. Any action to be taken inside Pakistan would be carried out by Pakistani forces. An ISAF spokesman said in Kabul that troops had crossed the border mistakenly. The insurgents were moving and it was difficult to tell that the troops were in Pakistani territory, he said.

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