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US-led troops repelled from Pak border

40 militants killed in clashes

AFP, Peshawar
US-led coalition troops based in Afghanistan tried to cross into a Pakistani tribal area in helicopters but were repelled after warning shots were fired while Pak troops killed at least 40 militants in a restive tribal area near the Afghan border yesterday.
The incident happened about 100 metres (yards) from South Waziristan late Sunday on the Afghan side of the border, but there were no casualties.
"The US-led coalition troops in helicopters came close to the border and they tried to enter into Pakistan territory but shots were fired by Pakistani troops and the coalition troops retreated," a security official said.
An unnamed Pakistani army spokesman confirmed an incident took place but denied its involve-
ment
"There was firing but our troops were not involved," he told AFP. "Firing was heard but there was no violation of Pakistan territory," he said.
A second security official based in the area said that local tribesmen joined in the firing after Pakistani soldiers played bugles to alert local people to the threat of an incursion.
The Pakistan army's chief military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, denied there had been any such incident.
"These reports are not correct." he said.
"We have checked, there is an FC (Frontier Corps) post in the area. No helicopter came inside our side of the border, nor did our troops fire at any," Abbas said.
The apparent incident took
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place amid high tensions in the border region a week after Pakistan accused US troops of carrying out a direct attack in the same area that left 15 people dead.
Separately, US drones have carried out repeated missile strikes killing dozens of people, including civilians, in Pakistan and straining the relationship between the "war on tenor" allies.
Pakistan vowed Sunday to defend itself against violations of its air space and incursions by US forces in Afghanistan.
US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who took sanctuary there after the fall of the Taliban regime in late2001.
al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. are widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous region.
The civilian deaths have stirred local anger and embarrassed the Pakistani government, already struggling to tackle the militancy that has seen 1,200 of its own people die in bombings and suicide attacks in the past year alone.
Pakistan's army, itself engaged in fierce clashes against militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the border regions, has previously
condemned what it sees as unilateral US action that violates the country's sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Pakistani troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships killed at least 40 Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda in a restive tribal area near the Afghan border, a security official said Monday.
Pakistani forces have for weeks been targeting rebel positions in Bajaur, in a major operation that has seen nearly 700 people killed, mostly militants, and 260,000 displaced.
"At least 40 militants were killed and up to 30 wounded in the shelling that commenced on Sunday afternoon and continued until Monday morning," a security official told AFP