ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: A high-level inquiry into the incident of the United States bombing of a Madressah (seminary) in North Waziristan Agency following an exchange of fire between Pakistani border guards and US Marines has been initiated by defence authorities.
No damage to life or property except for injury to one US Marine had occurred, Inter-Services Public Relations Director-General Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi told Dawn.
He termed the reports of killing of two Pakistani border guards and destruction of an structure housing a seminary as exaggerated.
“We have ordered an inquiry into the incident of exchange of fire to ascertain the facts,” he said when asked whether the US Marine was injured by the firing of a Pakistani scout.
He, however, confirmed that US planes did attack and a bomb fell few hundred metres inside Pakistani territory close to Afghanistan border in North Waziristan Agency.
The incident of US bombing of Pakistani territory has evoked widespread condemnation and indignation over breach of national pride and sovereignty.
The NWFP provincial assembly adopted a resolution on Wednesday, condemning the bombing of a seminary and asking the federal government to lodge a strong protest with the Bush administration over the incident.
TWO VERSIONS: Qureshi said a bomb was dropped inside Pakistani territory during a weekend clash between US and Pakistani forces, contradicting a US military account of the raid, AFP adds.
“During an operation carried out by US troops in Afghanistan a bomb fell near the Durand Line in Pakistani territory,” he said.
There were no casualties or damage and Pakistan’s military was probing the incident, he said.
The US military in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that one of its warplanes dropped a bomb after a Pakistani border scout fired on a US patrol, injuring a US soldier, near the Afghan frontier town of Shkin on Sunday.
A US military spokeswoman said the bomb fell inside Afghan territory, 300 metres from a Pakistani checkpoint.
Qureshi said he was unaware of a seminary being hit, but said there was a deserted building in the area where the bomb fell.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami and an MNA, said mass rallies against a possible US attack on Iraq across Pakistan on Friday would also protest the bombing.
“The US bombing of Pakistani territory is an open violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Qazi added.
Pakistani newspapers warned of rising anti-US hostility over perceived highhandedness by US forces.
