US ‘still’ respects Pakistan sovereignty

WASHINGTON: The White House said it respected Pakistan's sovereignty and always mourned any loss of innocent life, but declined to comment directly on alleged US strikes inside the US ally's borders.
"We respect their sovereignty and we support their new civilian government," spokeswoman Dana Perino said, adding that US President George W. Bush "grieves any time there is a loss of innocent life."
"I have no comment on reports of anything in Pakistan. As I said yesterday, however, we are in constant communication with the Pakistanis," said Perino, who on Thursday had underlined the need to improve counter-terrorism cooperation with Islamabad.
"We are bound and determined to work with them to fight the extremists who threaten all of us," the spokeswoman said.
Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan have said they have no knowledge of that incident.-APP/AFP