No cross-border operations into Pakistan so far: US

The US military said Saturday it has refrained from cross-border operations from Afghanistan into war-on-terror ally Pakistan, despite stating recently it could chase hostile forces into Pakistan if needed.

"We actually haven't crossed the border in pursuit of enemy forces," Major Steve Clutter told reporters at Bagram, headquarters of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan to root out fugitives of the al-Qaeda terror network and the hardline Taliban regime which harboured them.

The military has sought to clarify a December 29 incident in which it states a US soldier was wounded when troops came under fire from a Pakistani border guard who they say was inside Afghan territory.

A US warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb at an empty religious school where the assailant took shelter. The school lies on the Pakistani side of a Pakistani border post, which the US military says has been established 300 meters (yards) inside Afghanistan.

The US claims the school is in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military said the bomb fell on Pakistani soil.

"That's as close as we actually came," Clutter said about crossing the border.

When asked if US troops had crossed into Pakistan in the past, he said: "The bottom line is, we haven't done it."

In a statement sent to AFP Thursday, the US military said it "may pursue attackers who attempt to escape into Pakistan to evade capture or retaliation."

Islamabad has bristled at the claims, with domestic feeling there growing that Washington was treating its key coalition ally with contempt.

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid rejected the US statement. Rashid said Pakistan was "perfectly capable" of securing its borders.

Clutter strove to downplay the border clash and resultant anger in Pakistan, expressed in a series of anti-American protests Friday led by Islamist leaders.

"It was a very minor thing," he said of the clash.

"Pakistan is a very strong ally, it's been a very stable partner in the war on terrorism."

Reports of the incident have outraged Pakistan's Islamist-ruled North West Frontier Province, where anti-US feeling has run high during the 14-month-old military campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban.

US forces have been working with Pakistani troops along the border to hunt extremists for more than a year.