Bruce Loudon; 27/9/08
The first major shoot-out on the tense border with Afghanistan between anti-terrorism allies Pakistan and the US plunged their relations to a new low last night as President Asif Ali Zardari told Washington: “Friends can’t be intruders.” In a dramatic escalation of the stand-off between the two nations over cross-border raids, conflicting accounts emerged of what military analysts regard as a serious encounter involving ground-fire by Pakistani troops aimed at bringing down US helicopter gunships. The US forces - part of the NATO coalition force fighting in Afghanistan - fired back at Pakistani positions from their helicopter gunships as well as from the ground in what is the biggest exchange of its kind.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24407947-2703,00.html
Pakistani, US forces exchange fire in Afghanistan; 26/9/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24405266-25837,00.html
Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA