Pakistan: US Attack on Base Lasted ‘Almost Two Hours’ as Calls to Stop Were Ignored

Pakistani Military Spokesman Angrily Rejects Claim They Started It

Questions continue to grow over the Friday night US attack on a Pakistani military base today, with new reports coming out of Pakistan saying that the air attacks against the base lasted for almost two hours.

The Army statement says that the base repeatedly broadcast calls for a ceasefire over the course of the two hours and that those calls were repeatedly ignored, with the attack, carried out by warplanes and helicopters, killing 24 soldiers.

Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani Army’s chief spokesman, termed the attack a “deliberate aggression” by NATO and angrily rejected the new claims that the Pakistani army had started it.

“There was no fire from this direction,” Abbas insisted, challenging the claims on the basis that there were zero claims of any casualties on NATO’s side and no evidence that the people at the base, who were sleeping at the time, did anything to provoke the strikes.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.