NATO Choppers Hit Pakistani Troops

The AP reports:

NATO helicopters from Afghanistan intruded into northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, wounding two troops, officials said, prompting a protest from the military already seething over the secret U.S. operation to kill Osama bin Laden.

The military said it had sought a flag meeting with NATO commanders over the incursion in Pakistan's North Waziristan near the Afghan border which has been repeatedly targeted by U.S. drone aircraft as a hub of al Qaeda linked militants.

A Western military official in Kabul, however, said two NATO helicopters supporting a base in eastern Afghanistan had returned fire after being attacked from Pakistan, but declined to say whether they fired from Afghan airspace or crossed the border.

Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have been pushed almost to the breaking point after the May 2 raid on Abbottabad that killed bin Laden, with Pakistan's parliament condemning the operation as a violation of the nation's sovereignty.

A local government official said two NATO helicopters crossed into North Waziristan and remained for about 10 minutes in the area, known to be a hub for al Qaeda-linked fighters including the Haqqani network that is leading the insurgency in eastern Afghanistan.

The helicopters retreated after Pakistani border forces opened fire in the Datta Khel area about 40 km (24 miles) west of the main town of Miranshah, a security official said.

"A shell struck a mountain nearby and two of our soldiers were wounded by the rubble," the official said.