JOIN USSaturday's attack on two army checkposts left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead, sparking outrage in the country and straining relations with the US.
Terming the strikes on Pakistani posts by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) an unprovoked act of blatant aggression, Director General of Military Operations Maj. Gen. Ishfaq Nadeem said Tuesday that in the attacks all coordination procedures were violated.
“The positions of the posts were already conveyed to the ISAF through map references and it was impossible that they did not know these to be our posts,” he said at the Army general Headquaretsr (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
Giving details of the incident, he said after the midnight Nov 26, two to three helicopters appeared and started engaging Volcano post breaking down all communication systems.
In response, the Boulder post engaged helicopters with anti-aircraft guns and all available weapons. He said all channels of coordination methods were immediately activated.
"We informed them about the attack. But, the helicopters reappeared and also engaged the Boulder post."
In both attacks, 24 soldiers, including two officers, were killed while 15 were injured.
The general said there were four border communication centres to coordinate operations against militants but all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were violated by ISAF and NATO on the night of the attack, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.
The area where the attacks were carried out was already cleared of militants by Pakistani forces and there was no cross border movement of terrorists from Pakistan to Afghan territory, he added.
Nadeem said prior to this incident, there had been three attacks which were carried out from across the border in 2008, 2010 and 2011, killing 14 Pakistani soldiers and injuring 13.
“No information regarding inquiry of these attacks was shared or provided to us despite our repeated requests and when provided, it was inaccurate and incomplete,” he said.
On Pakistan Air Force response, the general said the situation was not clear till morning so the PAF was not asked to respond.