Jamaat-ud-Dawa supporters at an anti-US protest in Karachi on Monday. (Reuters)

Islamabad, Nov. 28 (Reuters): Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ruled out “business as usual” with the US today after a Nato attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and the army threatened to drastically curtail cooperation with Washington on Afghanistan.

Saturday’s incident on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan has complicated US attempts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilise the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.

“Business as usual will not be there,” Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the US would continue. “We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation.”

In Washington, the US expressed concern today about how the Nato attack will affect relations between the two countries but said their ties have weathered difficult times in the past.

“Of course we’re concerned about the impact of this incident on our relations with Pakistan,” state department spokesman Mark Toner said. “We’re trying to work through this.”

Gilani’s comments in Islamabad reflect the fury of the Pakistani government and military and the pressure they are under from their own people. “You cannot win any war without the support of the masses,” he said. “We need the people with us.”

The relationship, he said, would continue only if based on “mutual respect and mutual interest”. Asked if Pakistan was receiving that respect, Gilani replied: “At the moment, not.”

Gilani’s comments cap a day of growing pressure from the Pakistani military, which threatened to reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan.

“This could have serious consequences in the level and extent of our cooperation,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

Pakistan has a long history of ties to militant groups in Afghanistan so it is uniquely positioned to help bring about a peace settlement, a top foreign policy and security goal for the Obama administration.

Washington believes Islamabad can play a critical role in efforts to pacify Afghanistan before all Nato combat troops pull out in 2014 and cannot afford to alienate its ally.

Pakistan shut down Nato supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the weekend shooting incident, the worst of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001.

“We have been here before. But this time it’s much more serious,” said Farzana Sheikh, associate fellow of the Asia programme at Chatham House in London.

“The government has taken a very stern view. It’s not quite clear at this stage what more Pakistani authorities can do, apart from suspending supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan.”

Adding a new element to tensions and a diplomatic boost for Islamabad, Pakistan’s ally China said it was “deeply shocked” by the incident and expressed “strong concern for the victims and profound condolences for Pakistan”.

Russia, which has been seeking warmer relations with Pakistan as worry grows over the Nato troop pullout in Afghanistan, said it was “unacceptable” to violate the sovereignty of states even when hunting “terrorists”.

On Saturday, Nato helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan, killing the 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others, the army said. Nato described the killings as a “tragic, unintended incident”.