Pakistan is determined to defend its territorial integrity, the country's foreign minister said on Thursday, as anger mounted over a raid by US-led troops on a remote border village. The pre-dawn helicopter-borne ground assault on the village of Angor Adda on the Afghan border on Wednesday was the first known incursion into Pakistan by US-led troops since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. A senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross border operations, confirmed to The Associated Press the raid by US-led troops. The official didn't provide any other details. The United States, a major source of aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan, has not officially commented on the raid. Twenty people, including women and children were killed, officials said, and a new civilian government, more sensitive to public anger than the previous government, summoned the US ambassador to lodge an angry protest. Foreign Minister Shah Memood Qureshi said in an angry address to the National Assembly that the raid was a shameful violation of rules of engagement agreed with US-led forces in Afghanistan. “We will not compromise on any violation of our sovereignty,” Qureshi said. “We will defend and ... we have a resolve and we have national consensus in Pakistan to defend our territorial integrity,” he said. The US says Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants lurk in sanctuaries in northwest Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun tribal areas on the Afghan border, where they orchestrate attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and plot violence in the West. There have been numerous missile strikes on militants in Pakistan, most believed launched by US-operated pilotless drone aircraft. NATO's Afghan peacekeeping force, led by a US general, denied involvement. But the United States leads a separate, counter-insurgency force in Afghanistan. Analysts said the raid will test ties between the allies. “The people of Pakistan are furious,” said former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan. “At a minimum they want an apology from the United States and an assurance that this kind of operation will not be repeated ... It could have an irreparable effect on long-term relations.” While in the past, the government led by former president Pervez Musharraf could virtually ignore public anger, the civilian government led by the widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will feel pressure. Asif Ali Zardari, who looks set to become president in an election by legislators on Saturday, is seen as close to the US but ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom harbour anti-American feelings, will expect him to take a stand. Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said such raids risked forcing people into the arms of the militants and inciting an uprising in the tribal lands. Khan said the raid looked to be an act of desperation in the dying days of the Bush administration. “They are in election mode and apparently the Bush administration is desperate to score points,” he said.
