Pat Dollard | Young Americans

As far as I’m concerned, the gloves are off. Saturday’s bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad SHOULD HAVE been a wake up call to the Pakistani government that NATO and US forces were needed to help curb the violence in the area.

September 22, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters crossed into the country from neighboring Afghanistan, intelligence officials said Monday.

The helicopters did not return fire and re-entered Afghan airspace without landing, the officials said.

Pakistan’s army and the U.S. military in Afghanistan said they had no information on the reported incursion late Sunday, which will likely add to tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

A spate of suspected U.S. missile strikes into Pakistan’s border region and a raid by U.S. commandos that killed around 15 people have angered and embarrassed Pakistani leaders.

President Asif Ali Zardari is currently in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly. The newly elected leader is also expected to meet President Bush.

The two intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. They said informants in the field told them of the incursion around one mile inside the disputed and poorly demarcated border in the Alwara Mandi area.

A week ago, U.S. helicopters reportedly landed near Angoor Ada, a border village in South Waziristan but returned toward Afghanistan after troops fired warning shots.

A military spokesman said last week that troops had orders to open fire in case of another cross-border raid by U.S. troops.