ISAF commander had offered "personal apology" over Salala incident

Kayani had apprec­iated the apolog­y, but dismis­sed it as insufficient.

ISLAMABAD: ISAF commander in Afghanistan General John Allen offered a "personal apology" over the November 26, 2011 cross-border incident in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed, the BBC's Urdu language website reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, General Allen during his recent meeting with Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, personally apologised over the incident.

The BBC Urdu, quoting a senior military official, said that General Kayani appreciated the apology, but declared it insufficient.

Kayani, according to the source, made it clear to General Allen that the issue was not between two armies, rather between the two governments, and its solution lay in those corridors.

The source added that the meeting between General Allen and General Kayani took place in the Foreign Office in the presence of other officers on the insistence of the latter. Generally the two Generals have held talks at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

The items discussed in the meeting covered the Nato supply routes and drone strikes. All matters discussed in those meetings would be put before the Cabinet's defence committee, which met in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The case of "friendly fire" had prompted Pakistan to close its borders for Nato supplies ferried through its territory into Afghanistan. Pakistan went on to conduct a policy review of its ties with the US, demanding that the US issue a high level apology over the incident, and end drone strikes before the routes would be reopened.

The US, on numerous occasions expressed regret over the incident, but did not offer a clear apology as demanded by Pakistan.