US confirms raid inside Pakistan - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

US confirms raid inside Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American forces conducted a raid inside Pakistan on Wednesday, a senior U.S. military official said, in the first known foreign ground assault against a suspected Taliban haven. Pakistan’s government condemned the action, saying it killed at least 15 people.

The American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross-border operations, said the raid occurred about a mile inside Pakistan. The Washington-based official didn’t provide details on casualties.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry protested the attack, and an army spokesman warned that the apparent escalation from recent missile strikes on militant targets along the Afghan border would further anger Pakistanis and undercut cooperation in the war against terrorist groups.

The boldness of the thrust fed speculation about the intended target. But it was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured in the operation, which occurred in one of the militant strongholds dotting a frontier region considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.