A senior Pakistani army official is quoted as saying the cross-border air attack by NATO forces in Afghanistan that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers was a "deliberate" and blatant act of aggression against Pakistani forces.
The remarks by Major-General Ashfaq Nadeem, director general of military operations, quoted today in Pakistani newspapers, marks another hardening of Pakistan's stance on the incident that took place on November 26.
The major-general is quoted as saying that NATO forces were alerted by Pakistan that they were attacking Pakistani posts, and not militant bases -- but he said the NATO helicopters continued to fire.
He added that Pakistan's army may not cooperate with a U.S.-led investigation of the incident, saying there were doubts that such a probe would find the truth.
U.S. and NATO officials have promised a thorough investigation of the incident, and have suggested that NATO helicopters may have opened fire on the Pakistani forces in a case of mistaken identity.
compiled from agency reports