Nato regrets Pak troop deaths, urges route re-opening

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Pakistan yesterday to reopen a key Afghanistan supply route "as soon as possible" and expressed regret for the deaths of Pakistani troops in a Nato strike.
Pakistan has blocked a land route for Nato convoys carrying supplies to neighbouring Afghanistan since Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border Nato helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers.
"I expressed my regrets for the incident last week in which Pakistani soldiers lost their lives," Rasmussen told reporters after meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
"I expressed condolences to the families. Obviously this incident was unintended," he added.
Rasmussen said Nato and Pakistan needed to "improve" and "step up" cooperation on the Afghan-Pakistani border region to prevent Taliban insurgents from crossing the frontier to attack foreign troops fighting in Afghanistan.