Video released of disputed Pakistan airstrike

[unhappycamper]

Video released of disputed Pakistan airstrike
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 12, 2008 7:08:29 EDT

WASHINGTON — The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan released footage Thursday of a skirmish with militants that Pakistan claims resulted in a deadly airstrike on one of its border posts.

Pakistan says 11 of its troops died when a bomb fell on the Gorparai post in the Mohmand frontier region Tuesday. It lodged a strong diplomatic protest and called the strike a “completely unprovoked and cowardly act.”

But Pakistani and U.S. officials have given widely differing accounts of an event that threatens to further sour relations with a key ally in the war in Afghanistan — a partnership already deeply unpopular among Pakistanis.

To support its version, the coalition took the unusual step Thursday of releasing excerpts of a video shot by a surveillance drone circling above the mountainous battle zone.

The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off camera in the valley below.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_pakistan_061108/