Secret accord sheltered Al Qaeda linked militants in tribal Pakistan

The report goes on to quote the new Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, who says that any agreements reached between militants and the Pakistani government will insist that extremists not give haven to guerrilla fighters who would launch attacks on any of Pakistan's allies, including Afghanistan or the United States. However, the leaked agreement in North Waziristan does not appear to make this demand.

Regardless of such peace deals, the US is continuing to pressure Pakistani militants. Reuters reports that a pilotless US drone may have fired a missile into Pakistan on Tuesday, the fifth time the Americans have attacked targets inside Pakistan this year.

"There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don't have information about casualties or damage," said the government official based in the region. He declined to be identified.

...

Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.

Wednesday, a US airstrike killed 11 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border, the sixth time Americans have attacked targets inside Pakistan this year and

the first such attack on Pakistani troops

,

Agence France-Presse

writes.

An Army statement quoting a spokesman said a paramilitary checkpost at Gora Prai in the Mohmand tribal agency was "destroyed by coalition forces in Afghanistan through aerial attack," killing 11 troops including an officer.

"The spokesman condemned this completely unprovoked and cowardly act on the FC (Frontier Corps) post and regretted the loss of precious lives of our soldiers," the statement said.

"He blamed the coalition forces for violent act and said that the incident had hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror," it said.

Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with the coalition, it said.

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