ISLAMABAD: The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, US General John Allen, is likely to visit Pakistan on June 27 to review border coordination measures with Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, the military said in a statement on Monday.

Islamabad and Washington are locked in difficult talks to repair badly frayed ties, at their lowest point in years after a cross-border Nato air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year.

Pakistan blocked overland supply routes to Nato forces in Afghanistan to protest against the strike.

The statement comes the same day the Pakistan Army said seven of eleven Pakistani soldiers abducted by Afghan militants had been beheaded. The soldiers had been kidnapped the previous day in a cross border attack by the insurgents, which had resulted in the killing of six other personnel.

The foreign ministry said it had lodged a strong protest with the deputy head of Afghan mission, on “the intrusion of militants from the Afghan side into Pakistani territory.”