{"id":23006,"date":"2010-10-06T18:54:18","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=23006"},"modified":"2013-10-19T20:16:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T17:16:41","slug":"us-sorry-for-helicopter-attack-that-killed-pakistani-soldiers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/10\/06\/us-sorry-for-helicopter-attack-that-killed-pakistani-soldiers-2\/","title":{"rendered":"US sorry for helicopter attack that killed Pakistani soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><\/h1>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li> From: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite> AP <\/cite><\/li>\n<li> October 07, 2010 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3:42PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong> THE US has apologised for a helicopter attack that killed two  Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border, saying American  pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The apology, which came after a joint investigation, could pave the  way for Pakistan to reopen a key border crossing that NATO uses to ship  goods into landlocked Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan closed the crossing to NATO supply convoys in apparent reaction to the September 30 incident.<\/p>\n<p>Suspected militants have taken advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe  extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier  Scouts who were killed and injured,\u201d said the US ambassador to  Pakistan, Anne Patterson.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan initially reported that three  soldiers were killed and three wounded in the attack, but one of the  soldiers who was critically injured and initially reported dead ended up  surviving, said Major Fazlur Rehman, the spokesman for the Frontier  Corps.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"sidebar-start\">\n<p>Start of sidebar. <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/news\/world\/us-sorry-for-helicopter-attack-that-killed-pakistani-soldiers\/story-e6frg6so-1225935528267#sidebar-end\">Skip to end of sidebar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"story-related-empty\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>Related Coverage<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/news.com.au\/adelaidenow\/story\/0,,27843963-5005962,00.html\">One dead in NATO tanker torching<\/span> <em>Adelaide Now<\/em>, <em>2 days ago<\/em><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/news.com.au\/heraldsun\/story\/0,,27843930-5012747,00.html\">Gunmen torch NATO oil tankers<\/span> <em>Herald Sun<\/em>, <em>2 days ago<\/em><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.news.com.au\/story\/0,,27836970-2703,00.html\">Drone kills Germans militants in Pakistan<\/span> <em>The Australian<\/em>, <em>3 days ago<\/em><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.news.com.au\/story\/0,,27834678-2703,00.html\">Three dead as NATO tankers torched<\/span> <em>The Australian<\/em>, <em>4 days ago<\/em><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/news.com.au\/heraldsun\/story\/0,,27833716-663,00.html\">Taliban claims NATO attack<\/span> <em>Herald Sun<\/em>, <em>4 days ago<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sidebar-end\">\n<p>End of sidebar. <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/news\/world\/us-sorry-for-helicopter-attack-that-killed-pakistani-soldiers\/story-e6frg6so-1225935528267#sidebar-start\">Return to start of sidebar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pakistani soldiers fired at the two US helicopters prior to the attack, a move the investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe  believe the Pakistani border guard was simply firing warning shots  after hearing the nearby engagement and hearing the helicopters flying  nearby,\u201d said US Air Force Brigadier General Tim Zadalis, NATO&#8217;s  director for air plans in Afghanistan who led the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force co-ordination with the Pakistan military.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus expressed his condolences.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan  moved swiftly after the attack to close the Torkham border crossing  that connects northwestern Pakistan with Afghanistan through the famed  Khyber Pass.<\/p>\n<p>The closure has left hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country&#8217;s highways and bottlenecked traffic heading to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open.<\/p>\n<p>There have been seven attacks on NATO supply convoys since Pakistan closed Torkham, including those on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><input id=\"gwProxy\" type=\"hidden\" \/><input id=\"jsProxy\" onclick=\"if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}\" type=\"hidden\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From: AP October 07, 2010 3:42PM THE US has apologised for a helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border, saying American pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents. The apology, which came after a joint investigation, could pave the way for Pakistan to reopen a key border crossing that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":35033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}