The Pakistani foreign minister Sunday described a NATO attack that killed dozens of soldiers as "totally unacceptable," saying it plunges the nation's relationship with the United States into deeper crisis.
NATO helicopters attacked a military checkpoint north-west Pakistan on Saturday, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, officials said the nation. The attack wounded 13 others Mohmand Agency, one of the seven districts of the volatile region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Many of the wounded are in critical condition, said military authorities. Authorities declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The Secretary General of NATO said it was a "tragic accident" incident and pledged to ensure that such attacks do not occur.
Many of the wounded are in critical condition, said military authorities. Authorities declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The Secretary General of NATO said it was a "tragic accident" incident and pledged to ensure that such attacks do not occur.
"NATO remains strongly committed to working with Pakistan to improve cooperation so that similar tragedies in the future," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.
But the Pakistani Foreign Minister said that the attack violated the sovereignty of the nation.
"Such attacks ... demonstrate complete disregard for international law and human life," Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a phone call early Sunday.
The minister's office issued a news release describing the conversation.
The attack "negates the progress made by the two countries on improving relations and forces Pakistan to revisit the terms of engagement," Khar said.
Pakistan shut down two NATO supply routes in response to the attack, military and intelligence officials said. NATO trucks have used the routes, in Khyber Agency and Balochistan, to supply U.S. and international forces fighting in Afghanistan.
The foreign minister briefed Clinton on decisions to stop the supply routes, and asked the U.S. to vacate the Shamsi air base within 15 days.
NATO and U.S. officials expressed their condolences about the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers, but circumstances surrounding what happened remained unclear. Pakistan said it will reassess its relationship with the United States, NATO and the International Security Assistance Force, marking a major setback in worsening U.S.-Pakistan relations.
"The prime minister will take the Parliament into confidence on the whole range of measures regarding matters relating to Pakistan's future cooperation with US/NATO/ISAF, in the near future," Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said in a statement.
The incident could be the deadliest for Pakistani soldiers involving NATO since a U.S. airstrike in June 2008, which Pakistan said killed 11 of its forces who were cooperating with the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
That airstrike, also in Mohmand Agency, prompted Islamabad to summon the U.S. ambassador and lodge an official protest.
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