Pakistan protests NATO helicopter airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan - Pakistan has vehemently protested NATO helicopter strikes that killed more than 70 militants, saying yesterday that United Nations rules do not allow the choppers to cross into its air space, even in hot pursuit of insurgents.

NATO said it launched the strikes in self-defense after militants attacked a small security post in Afghanistan near the border.

Although unmanned CIA drones frequently attack insurgents hiding on the Pakistani side where coalition forces are banned from fighting, strikes by NATO helicopters are uncommon there.

Pakistan's protest, which plays to anti-American sentiment in that country, contrasts with its muted criticism of a sharp rise in suspected drone attacks in North Waziristan - a rugged, mountainous tribal area of Pakistan largely controlled by militants who stage attacks on coalition troops across the border.

The dispute over the strikes fuels unease between the two countries. The Pakistani military has fought Pakistani Taliban fighters, but it has resisted pressure to move against the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network. The Haqqanis, who control vast stretches of territory in North Waziristan and the bordering Afghan province of Khost, carry out attacks in Afghanistan - but not in Pakistan.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the United States followed protocol in the situation.

"Our forces have the right of self-defense," Lapan said.

U.S. officials say there is an agreement to notify Pakistani officials of cross-border incidents to allow the coalition to defend itself.

Pakistan denied that such an understanding exists with the military coalition, or with the International Security Assistance Force. - AP