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May 14, 2007 10:00 am US/Eastern
U.S. Soldier Shot To Death Near Afghan Border
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CBS) ―
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Protesters in Karachi, Pakistan, run after setting a car on fire May 12, 2007.
AP
Militants opened fire Monday on a convoy carrying U.S. and Pakistani military officials near the Afghan frontier, killing one American and one Pakistani soldier, the Pakistani army spokesman said.
At least two Americans and two Pakistani soldiers and were wounded.
Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said "miscreants" - usually a byword used by Pakistani officials to describe Islamic militants - fired at the convoy carrying military officials who attended a meeting in the northwestern town of Teri Mangal.
Afghan military officials also attended the talks to discuss recent fighting between Afghan and Pakistani forces that the government in Kabul says has killed at least 13 people inside Afghanistan - inflaming already poor relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said it could confirm ISAF casualties but not the exact number of injured or killed.
Maj. William Mitchell, a spokesman at the U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, said officials were trying to verify conflicting reports of violence.
Rahmatullah Rahmat, governor of the Afghan border province of Paktia, said that he, U.S. military advisors and Afghan army leaders traveled by helicopter to Pakistan for the meeting.
He said that after the meeting finished, gunmen opened fire on the group as they were heading toward their helicopters. Rahmat reported two American dead and two wounded.
He said that American soldiers returned fire.
Arshad said that Pakistan has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident. He denied initial reports from Afghanistan that a Pakistani soldier had opened fire on the American troops.
He had no details on the conditions of the wounded soldiers or their identities. He said the Americans had been shifted to Afghanistan for treatment.
"The latest information that I have got is that one Pakistani soldier died of his wounds, and one American soldier died of his wounds," Arshad said.
"Efforts are being made to determine from where the firing came from and who carried it out. The area has been cordoned (off)," he said.
Islamic militants, including supporters of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, are active in the lawless border region.
During the weekend, rival political groups traded gunfire near the Karachi airport, where people rallied to protest President. Gen Pervez Musharraf's suspension of independently-minded Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry. Authorities in Karachi reportedly deployed 15,000 security force members in the city to maintain law and order, but violence was quick to spread.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
