19 Taliban killed inside Pakistan

Kabul, Aug 27: American-led coalition and Afghan troops have reportedly struck Taliban positions inside Pakistan leaving 19 militants dead.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said that it had received the go-ahead from Pakistan to strike across the border, but the chief military spokesman in Islamabad refused this.

Afghan and foreign troops used mortars and artillery fire to destroy insurgent positions on either side of the border, after a military post in Afghanistan came under attack.

"The Pakistani military gave permission for the Afghan National Security Forces to fire on the targets located within Pakistan," a statement said.

Six insurgent positions were destroyed, three on each side of the border.

"There was no attack, no firing from our side of the border. And there was no permission asked by them or given by us," Major General Waheed Arshad, the Pakistan Army spokesman, said.

US military spokeswoman Captain Vanessa Bowman however, insisted that the onslaught was fully coordinated with Pakistan.

"There is a very close working relationship with Pakistan to eliminate this kind of threat," she said.

Earlier, US President George W Bush expressed confidence in Pakistan's efforts in the war on terror, but refused to rule out unilateral American strikes on Pakistani soil if specific intelligence pinpointed to the presence of top al Qaeda leaders, the Daily Times reported.

Separately, a NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokeswoman said that 12 militants were killed in an overnight clash.

ANI
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