05-14-2007, 09:57 PM
<b>Pakistan clash kills US soldier </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A US soldier has been shot dead after meeting Pakistani troops at a town near the Afghan border, Pakistan's military spokesman has said.
<b>A Pakistani soldier also died in the shooting, Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said.</b> He blamed the attack on militants.
He denied an Afghan government claim that a Pakistani officer had opened fire on the visiting group of US and Afghan soldiers.
The soldiers were meeting to discuss weekend fighting along the border.
Afghan and Pakistani troops traded gunfire across the border, leaving several people dead, some of them civilians
................
Conflicting accounts
US troops serving under the command of the Nato-led international peacekeeping force crossed the border into Pakistan on Monday to discuss the unrest with their Pakistani counterparts. Afghan troops went with them.
According to Maj Gen Arshad of the Pakistani military, their convoy was attacked as they left the meeting in the north-western town of Teri Mangal.
"We don't know who fired. We have ordered an inquiry. We have cordoned off the area," Maj Gen Arshad said.
He said several US and Pakistani soldiers had been hurt by gunfire.
However, an Afghan defence ministry spokesman, Zahir Azimi, said the US troops had been attacked by a Pakistani soldier.
"At the meeting, a Pakistani officer rose up and fired at US soldiers, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers and the wounding of two others," he said.
He said casualties were evacuated by US helicopter.
Maj Gen Arshad rejected the Afghan account.
<b>An official with the Nato-led international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan confirmed its soldiers had attended a meeting in Pakistan and one of them had been killed. </b>
Lt Col Maria Carl said she had little information about "who did it or anything else, other than they received gunfire after leaving this border meeting."
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<b>A Pakistani soldier also died in the shooting, Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said.</b> He blamed the attack on militants.
He denied an Afghan government claim that a Pakistani officer had opened fire on the visiting group of US and Afghan soldiers.
The soldiers were meeting to discuss weekend fighting along the border.
Afghan and Pakistani troops traded gunfire across the border, leaving several people dead, some of them civilians
................
Conflicting accounts
US troops serving under the command of the Nato-led international peacekeeping force crossed the border into Pakistan on Monday to discuss the unrest with their Pakistani counterparts. Afghan troops went with them.
According to Maj Gen Arshad of the Pakistani military, their convoy was attacked as they left the meeting in the north-western town of Teri Mangal.
"We don't know who fired. We have ordered an inquiry. We have cordoned off the area," Maj Gen Arshad said.
He said several US and Pakistani soldiers had been hurt by gunfire.
However, an Afghan defence ministry spokesman, Zahir Azimi, said the US troops had been attacked by a Pakistani soldier.
"At the meeting, a Pakistani officer rose up and fired at US soldiers, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers and the wounding of two others," he said.
He said casualties were evacuated by US helicopter.
Maj Gen Arshad rejected the Afghan account.
<b>An official with the Nato-led international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan confirmed its soldiers had attended a meeting in Pakistan and one of them had been killed. </b>
Lt Col Maria Carl said she had little information about "who did it or anything else, other than they received gunfire after leaving this border meeting."
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