Pakistan today strongly refuted US claims that American troops had the right to enter Pakistan territory in pursuit of suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters crossing from Afghanistan.
A US warplane dropped a large bomb on disputed land near the Afghan-Pakistan frontier last weekend after a man dressed as a Pakistani border guard opened fire on US troops inside Afghanistan, wounding one.
The US military in Afghanistan said yesterday that it had the right to cross into Pakistan in pursuit of suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives, adding that Pakistan had been aware of the "long-standing policy".
But Pakistan Foreign Minister Mr Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said on Saturday: "Operations within Pakistani territory would be conducted solely and exclusively by our own forces and in response to decisions taken by Pakistan.
"Our forces are fully capable of securing and protecting Pakistan's borders," he added, reading from a prepared statement.
According to Mr Kasuri, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf spoke about the incident by telephone yesterday and agreed it may have been due to a "misunderstanding at the operational level on the ground".