US confirms friendly attack on Pakistani forces

US air forces mistakenly attacked Pakistani security forces on the border with Afghanistan, killing two border guards and wounding a third, the US military confirmed Monday.

The US Central Command said the incident occurred after coalition forces patrolling near Orgun in the Afghan border province of Paktika were fired on and called in air support against the assailants, who fled toward the Pakistani border.

"The incident resulted in the unfortunate and unintended engagement of Pakistani security forces in the area," the command said. "Initial reports indicate that two persons died and one was wounded as a result of the incident."

A spokesman for the command said it was unclear whether the Pakistanis were killed in the US air attack or in exchanges of fire on the ground between US forces and the fleeing assailants.

"We don't know if it was the result of the close air support or if it was in a firefight between the bad guys that were originally identified and the coalition forces," said Commander Dan Gage.

"So at this time there is no determination made as to how they have been killed."

Pakistan earlier said it had lodged a "strong protest" over the incident, the first time its troops have been killed by US fire since becoming a key ally of Washington in the war on terrorism.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has protested to Washington over the killing of two of its troops by US forces along the border with Afghanistan and said it would raise the attack Tuesday with Afghan and US military officials.

The incident would be discussed at a meeting of a commission of Pakistani, Afghan and US officials formed to discuss the porous, ill-defined border and the hunt for fugitive extremists in the area, a military spokesman said.

"Whatever happens at the border comes up for discussion," Pakistan's Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

Two Pakistani soldiers were killed and one was injured Monday when US military planes, called in by ground troops patrolling the border in southeastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, opened fire on what were believed to be attackers fleeing towards the border.

The US military said its ground troops had been fired on during their patrol and the assailants fled towards Pakistan.

A spokesman for the US military's Central Command said it was unclear whether the Pakistanis were killed in the air attack or in exchanges of fire on the ground between US forces and the fleeing assailants.