US confirms it dropped bombs on Pak school

Two Pakistanis were killed and an American injured in the first ever border clash between US and Pakistani forces near the Afghan village of...

Two Pakistanis were killed and an American injured in the first ever border clash between US and Pakistani forces near the Afghan village of Sikhin in which American F-16 dropped a bomb hitting a Muslim religious school on the Pakistani side, US military has confirmed. The gun battle between the American and Pakistani forces began on Sunday when a Pakistani border guard fired on the Americans during a disagreement on a mission being conducted with the Pakistani forces.

‘‘A Pakistani border scout opened fire with a G3 rifle after the US patrol asked him to return to the Pakistani side of the border,’’ a US military statement said yesterday.

Unmanned US spy plane crashes

KARACHI: An unmanned US surveillance plane crashed in southern Pakistan on Wednesday just after it took off from a military Air base, a police official said. ‘‘The plane took off from Jacobabad Air Base at around midday on Wednesday, but crashed soon afterwards,’’ said an official. He cited technical problems as the cause of the incident and dismissed speculation it may have been shot down. A similar accident was reported in October and later denied by Pentagon. (Reuters)

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The Americans ended the skirmish by dropping a 500-pound bomb from an F-16 which hit a religious school where the scouts took refuge, killing two of them, Washington Times reported, quoting the statement.

‘‘That individual and several others retreated to a nearby structure. Close Air support was requested and one 500-lb bomb was dropped on the target area,’’ the statement said, adding one American soldier was injured and two members of the Pakistani border scout were killed. Media reports quoted witnesses and local officials as saying the bomb hit a seminary in burmol village in South waziristan tribal area of Pakistan. The US statement did not give details of the joint US-Pakistani mission or say whether it was taking place inside Afghanistan or Pakistan. US forces cooperte with Pakistani forces on the other side of the border looking for Al Qaeda fugitives but do not cross into Pakistani territory to pursue fugitives, the paper said.