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US-led Offensives

Pakistan orders its troops to retaliate 15 killed in military raids

AGENCIES, Islamabad/khar
Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if US troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman saidTuesday.
The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by US commandos, are certain to heighten tension between Washington and a key ally against terrorism.
Pakistan's civilian leaders have protested the raid but say the dispute should be resolved through diplomatic channels
However, army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told The Associated Press that after US helicopters ferried troops into a militant stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal region, the military told held commanders to
prevent any similar raids.
" The orders are clear," Abbas said in an interview. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire."
US military commanders accuse Islamabad of doing too little to prevent the Taliban and other militant groups from recruiting, training and resupplying in Pakistan's wild tribal belt.
Pakistan acknowledges the presence of al-Qaedff fugitives and its difficulties in preventing militants from seeping through the mountainous border into Afghanistan.
However, it insists it is doing what it can and paying a heavy price, pointing to its deployment of
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more then 100,000 troops in its increasingly restive northwest and a wave of suicide bombings across the country.
Meanwhile, Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets shelled hideouts of militants linked to al-Qaeda in a northwestern tribal area, killing 15 rebels, a security official said Tuesday.
Government forces launched a major offensive against rebel positions in the rugged Bajaur region near the Afghan border last month.
The operations has left nearly 700 people dead, mostly militants, and also displaced 260,000.
There was no immediate independent verification of the casualtyfigures.
The troops, also using heavy artillery, targeted militant positions in the areas of Tang Khata, Rashakai and Loisam, he said.
Pakistan's tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels sneaked into the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Violence linked to Pakistan's role in the "war on terror" has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in suicide and bomb attacks across the country in the past year
Meanwhile, in volatile northwest yesterday, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside a security post, killing three troops and wounding six others, officials said.
Several militants were believed to have been killed when troops returned fire.
(AP.AFP)