Nato attacks 'rebels in Pakistan'

Nato-led forces in Afghanistan say they have fired into Pakistan after coming under attack from there by suspected militants.

Troops used attack helicopters and artillery to fire from Paktika province after the militants fired rockets.

Nato said it had closely co-ordinated with Pakistan's military, who agreed to help if firing from Pakistan continued.

Nato rejected reports of a build-up of international forces on the Afghan side of the border in recent days.

Blame

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Pakistan's army has also downplayed the reports of a build-up of troops on the Afghan side of the border.

Increased activity on Tuesday by forces across the border from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan sparked fears of clashes between them and Taleban militants hiding in the region.

But the Pakistani army says it was part of the coalition's routine exercise to rotate and reposition its troops.

The exercise led to the temporary closure of at least two main border crossings in the Waziristan region, witnesses say.

Taleban attacks on Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan have increased in recent months.

Both Afghan and Western officials say the Taleban are operating out of sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas that border Afghanistan.

On Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai directly blamed Pakistani intelligence apparatus for organising last week's suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Pakistani Prime Minister Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hit back on Wednesday, saying Pakistan had time and again declared that it wanted Afghanistan to be stable.

'Routine'

Witnesses said Tuesday's movement by coalition troops in several areas along the Waziristan border was "shocking".

They said hundreds of troops moved with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and artillery pieces and repositioned very close to the border.

The movement was accompanied by increased overflights by coalition helicopters and fighter jets, they said.

Pakistan army spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas, told BBC News it was "routine movement and repositioning by the coalition forces, which is not unusual".

"We are watching the situation and are in touch with the coalition commanders in the area," he said.

Witnesses and administration officials in South Waziristan said a larger concentration of Afghan and coalition troops near Angoor Adda town on Tuesday led to the closure of the border crossing.

The main market of the town, which is located on the Pakistani side, remained closed because most shopkeepers live on the Afghan side of the border and were prevented by the coalition forces from crossing over.

The border gate on the Lwara Mandai crossing in North Waziristan tribal region also remained closed for traffic, witnesses said.

They said coalition forces had set up an outpost close to the border in the Lwara Mandai area.

Both border crossings were open to traffic on Wednesday however, witnesses said.

The Wazir tribe lives on both sides of the border, and controls the Lwara and Angoor Adda trade routes between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The army spokesman confirmed that the Angoor Adda crossing remained closed for nearly three hours on Tuesday "on the orders of the Afghan army", but said he had no information about the closure of Lwara Mandai.

He also rejected reports that coalition troops had deployed "too close" to the border.

"There is no coalition deployment that violates an agreed distance from the border which both sides have been observing," he said.