Pak troops fire at intruding US choppers

[Naveed Yaseen]

Fleeing copters, APC target posts, Nato denies border violation; Zardari says warning flares fired

By Malik Mumtaz & Mushtaq Yusufzai
MIRAMSHAH/ PESHAWAR: Pakistani security forces on Thursday afternoon fired at US gunship helicopters after they flew over Spinkhwara village near Saidgai in North Waziristan Agency (NWA). The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also confirmed the firing at the US choppers.

A spokesman for the ISPR told The News that two US helicopters intruded into the Pakistani territory at around 3:30 pm from Afghanistan’s Khost province in the Saidgai area near Gulam Khan in the NWA.

“When the two helicopters passed over our border post and were well within the Pakistani territory, the security forces deployed at the border fired warning shots,” the spokesman explained, adding the shots forced the helicopters to flee to Afghanistan. However, he said the choppers while retreating fired back on the security forces.

The official said the matter had been reported to the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) headquarters. He said the issue was being resolved through coordination and communication channel between the Pakistan Army and the ISAF.

Military and tribal sources told The News from the border town of Saidgai that two US choppers were seen flying over border villages for some time after crossing into the Pakistani territory on Thursday afternoon.

“Our troops fired at the choppers and forced them to fly back to Afghanistan,” said Ziarat Khan, a resident of Saidgai village along the border with Afghanistan. He also said the fleeing US gunship helicopters fired back at the Pakistani security forces but there were no details of losses to the troops.

Pakistani troops did not want to shoot down the choppers “which they could have done easily”, Ziarat noted.The sources said the US choppers were flying towards Miramshah, 16 kilometres off the border.

Also, military sources told The News that Pakistani security forces later fired at both the US choppers when they again flew over Pakistani border village Gorveek in the NWA. The sources said the choppers were forced to return to Afghanistan but later an armoured personnel carrier (APC) came to the border and fired at Pakistani posts. “They fired with heavy and light weapons on our troops but right now I have no knowledge of any losses,” said a military official based in Miramshah, but desired not to be named.

AFP adds: “Two helicopters crossed into our territory in Ghulam Khan area. They passed over our checkpost so our troops fired warning shots,” chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

In New York, President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan’s military was firing “flares” to warn Nato helicopters about the exact location of Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

Zardari, who was beginning a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, contradicted Nato accounts that its helicopters had come under “small arms fire” inside Afghan territory near the Pakistan border.

“You mean the flares,” Zardari replied when asked about the Nato accounts, adding, “It’s to make sure they do not cross the border line.“Sometimes the border is so mixed that they don’t realise they have crossed the border.”

As reporters filed out of the room, Rice told Zardari: “The border is very, very unclear, I know.”Earlier, the coalition forces in Afghanistan said in a statement that Pakistani troops had fired at Nato-led helicopters operating in eastern Afghanistan, adding that there was no damage or casualties.

The ISAF stressed that the helicopters had not crossed into the Pakistani airspace.“ISAF helicopters received small-arms fire from a Pakistan military checkpoint along the border near Tanai district, Khost, September 25 while conducting routine operations in Afghanistan,” it said in a statement.

The statement added: “ISAF forces and the Pakistani military are working together to resolve the matter.”Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the incident was “an unfortunate misunderstanding”.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17504