Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills 28

YAKKAGHUND, Pakistan, (Reuters) – NATO helicopters  attacked a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan today, killing up to 28 troops and prompting  Pakistan to shut vital supply routes for NATO troops fighting in  Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said.
The attack is the worst single incident of its kind since  Pakistan uneasily allied itself with Washington in the days  immediately following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.
It comes as relations between the United  States and Pakistan, its ally in the war on militancy, are  already badly strained following the killing of al Qaeda leader  Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a secret raid on the  Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May.
Pakistan called that raid a flagrant violation of its  sovereignty.
The Foreign Office equally condemned Saturday’s  attack.
“Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has condemned in the  strongest terms the NATO/ISAF attack on the Pakistani post,”  ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement. “On his  direction, the matter is being taken (up) by the foreign  ministry in the strongest terms with NATO and the U.S.”
The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, General  John R. Allen, said he had offered his condolences to the family  of any Pakistani soldiers who “may have been killed or injured”  during an “incident” on the border.
A spokesman for the force declined further comment on the  nature of the “incident” and said an investigation was  proceeding. It was not yet clear, he said, whether there had  been deaths or injuries.
Two military officials said that up to 28 troops  had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala  checkpoint, about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the Afghan border.
The attack took place around 2 a.m. (2100 GMT) in the Baizai  area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban  militants.
A senior Pakistani military officer said efforts were under  way to bring the bodies of the slain soldiers to Ghalanai, the  headquarters of Mohmand tribal region.