(AFP) – Sep 5, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Around 3,000 Pakistani tribesmen Friday chanted "Allahu Akbar and death to America" in protest at a raid by Afghanistan-based US-led troops that saw at least 15 people killed.

One of their elders warned US authorities to prepare for assaults on their bases in Afghanistan if they do not stop attacks on Pakistan's northwest border area, according to local residents and officials.

"If Americans do not stop launching assaults in our tribal regions, we will attack their bases in Afghanistan," tribal elder Malik Ali Mohammad told the protesters.

Pakistan on Thursday condemned the cross-border raid involving helicopter gunships and international troops as "shameful" and unjustified.

The rally took place in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district, where local officials said at least 15 people died in Wednesday's raid.

The incident marked the first time Pakistan has accused international troops based in Afghanistan of a direct attack on its soil since they were deployed in late 2001 to oust the hardline Taliban regime from power.

Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan said they have no knowledge of any such action in South Waziristan, a known haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

A Pentagon spokesman also declined to comment.

A recent series of missile strikes targeting rebels in Pakistan has been attributed to US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan.

There are about 70,000 international forces deployed under NATO and a separate US-led coalition in Afghanistan in an effort to help local forces repel the Islamic rebels.

But violence in the tribal regions on the border has often spread from those remote areas to other parts of Pakistan, including Islamabad.

Nearly 1,200 people have been killed in bombings and suicide attacks across the country in the past year.

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