Pakistan disputes U.S. air strike due to database gap
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistan military rejected on Thursday U.S. media reports that an American air strike which killed 11 Pakistani soldiers happened because the U.S. military did not know their post on the Afghan border was there.
U.S. officials, who spoke to some media on condition of anonymity, said the preliminary results of a joint U.S.-Pakistani investigation into the June 10 incident showed they did not have the location of the soldiers' post in the Mohmand tribal region.
U.S. coalition ground forces in Afghanistan called in air support after coming under fire from positions on a ridge overlooking the border.
Around eight militants were killed in the air strike, but it also hit the border post manned by Pakistani paramilitary troops.
Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the information on the post's location had been shared with the U.S. military.
"We had shared with them everything, including grid coordinates of all the posts on our side, and even handed over to them marked maps, indicating the location of our posts," he said.
"I would say these reports are simply devoid of facts."
Abbas said both sides would have to provide consent before the inquiry's findings could be made public.
The air strike strained ties between the United States and a new Pakistan government, which had already caused unease among Western governments with troops in Afghanistan by seeking peace deals with militants based in Pakistani tribal lands.
Afghan and NATO officials say more Islamist fighters have crossed into Afghanistan to attack their forces since Pakistan began talks with militants.
Many al Qaeda and Taliban militants fled to Pakistan's tribal regions after U.S.-backed forces drove the Taliban militia from power in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Pakistan has stationed about 90,000 troops in tribal lands on the Afghan border to counter the militant threat, and has lost more than 1,000 men in gun battles, roadside bombs and suicide attacks.
(Reporting by Kamran Haider; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
