Pak experts defuse missiles

ISLAMABAD, AUGUST 25: Pakistani troops cordoned off a large area in Balochistan province as experts worked to defuse an American Tomahawk...

ISLAMABAD, AUGUST 25: Pakistani troops cordoned off a large area in Balochistan province as experts worked to defuse an American Tomahawk missile that should have struck neighbouring Afghanistan but fell into Pakistan without exploding, due to some technical fault.

Pakistan protested to the UN Security Council a day before that the United States had violated its airspace to launch missiles on what Washington said were terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan.

The unexploded missile which landed in Pakistan instead was proof of the US violation of Pakistan8217;s airspace, Pakistan8217;s foreign ministry said. US Embassy spokesman Richard Hoagland said in Islamabad that US officials could not immediately confirm that a missile had fallen in Pakistani territory. The missile reportedly did little damage and caused no injuries because it fell in a desolate area of Balochistan province, itself the least populated province in the country.

quot;It was certainly not our intention to harm Pakistan,quot; Hoagland said. Mir Hakim Baloch, a provincial minister in the Balochistan government, said that his government first learnt of the missile from a truck driver, who saw it in Shatinger, a remote area in Kharan district, some 600 kilometers south of the US target of Khost in Afghanistan. After several confirmations, the Pakistan government went public with the information.

Pakistan last Friday protested with the American government that a missile had struck the Pakistan side of the Afghan border but later retracted the claim, because the missile had hit Afghan territory.

Prime minister Nawaz Sharif protested to US president Bill Clinton when he phoned to explain the American point of view after the air strikes against terrorist camps within Afghanistan. But later, when it was confirmed that the missiles had landed in Afghanistan, the prime minister transferred senior government officials including the head of the civil intelligence bureau. The US fired 73 Tomahawk missiles at six targets in Afghanistan.

In Lahore, more than 600 supporters of the Harkat-ul Mujahideen group marched in the city centre chanting anti US slogans. The Harkat organisation says that several of its members were killed in the US air strikes.

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Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz condemned the US action again on Tuesday while addressing the senate. quot;While supporting the efforts of the international community to combat terrorism, Pakistan takes a serious view of the unilateral action of the US involving violation of Pakistan8217;s airspace and use of force against the sovereignty of the brotherly countries of Sudan and Afghanistan,quot; said Aziz.