Taliban militants killed near Pakistan border

Air strikes on a cave complex near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan tonight killed four Taliban militants and destroyed a truck loaded with rockets, the US military said.

Military officials in Pakistan, meanwhile, said helicopters fired missiles into Pakistani territory, and officials opened an investigation into whether US aircraft were involved.

But Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick, a US military spokesman, said the strike was one or two miles inside the Afghan border and that no missiles landed inside Pakistan.

A US military statement said that coalition forces were in direct communication with Pakistani forces on the other side of the border during the operation.

A senior Pakistani military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two missiles landed close to the Pakistani town of Angoor Ada in the South Waziristan.

Angoor Ada is about 300 yards from the Afghan border.

The official said three civilians were wounded and that eight people were unaccounted for.

Pakistan is investigating whether US forces were involved and will lodge a protest if a fact-finding team sent to the area uncovers information indicating American involvement, the official said.

Fitzpatrick, however, said no US missiles landed in Pakistan.

“It was close to the border, within a mile or two. But we have GPS (global positioning systems). We know where the borders are of the two counties,” he said.

Before the strike, a joint team of US ground forces and Afghan soldiers observed individuals loading a truck near the cave with rockets, a military statement said.