Pakistan buries troops amid fury over NATO strike

Pakistan on Sunday buried 24 troops killed in a NATO cross-border air raid that has pushed a crisis in relations between the United States and a key ally in the war on terror towards rupture.
   
The attack was the latest perceived provocation by the United States, starting with the secret raid which killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May, and the question is whether ties will break or whether the two sides will remain stuck in a bad marriage of convenience.
   
NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two Pakistan military outposts on Saturday, killing the soldiers in what Pakistan said was an unprovoked assault.
   
NATO and U.S. officials expressed regret about the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers, but the exact circumstances of the attack were unclear.
   
"U.S. stabs Pakistan in the back, again," said a headline in the Daily Times, reflecting fury over the attack in Pakistan, a regional power seen as critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan.
   
Television stations showed the coffins of the soldiers draped in green and white Pakistani flags in a prayer ceremony at the headquarters of the regional command in Peshawar attended by army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.
   
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by telephone early on Sunday to convey "the deep sense of rage felt across Pakistan".
   
"This negates the progress made by the two countries on improving relations and forces Pakistan to revisit the terms of engagement," a Foreign Ministry statement quoted Khar as telling her U.S. counterpart.
   
Khar also informed Clinton that Pakistan wants the United States to vacate a drone aircraft base in the country.
   
Pakistan shut down NATO supply routes into Afghanistan -- used for sending in nearly half of the alliance's land shipments -- in retaliation for the worst such attack since Islamabad uneasily allied itself with Washington following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
   
That is unlikely to cool tempers in a country where anti-American sentiment runs high even when ties between Islamabad and Washington are smooth.
   
About 500 members of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's most influential religious party, staged a protest in Mohmand tribal area, where the NATO attack took place.
   
"Down with America" and "Jihad is The Only Answer to America", they yelled.
   
Around 40 troops were stationed at the outposts at the time of the attack, military sources said.
   
"They without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep," said a senior Pakistani officer.

Reuters