A major dispute has opened up between the US and Pakistan on a US air strike that killed eleven Pakistani soldiers stationed near the Afghan border. The attack came in an area where Taliban fighters were thought to be holding captured Afghan soldiers. Pakistan says the US bombed its forces while backing Afghanistan’s operation. On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said the US is undermining Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani: “We will take a stand for sovereignty, integrity and self-respect, and we will not allow our soil (to be attacked). We totally condemn it and will take up the matter through the foreign office.”

Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell denied Pakistan’s charges, saying US forces acted in self-defense.

Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell: “Every indication we have at this point is that the actions that were taken by US forces were legitimate in that they were in self-defense, after US forces operating on the border of Pakistan in Afghanistan territory came under attack from hostile forces, and in self-defense, they called in an air strike, which took out those forces that were attacking them.”