The helicopters flew in from the eastern Afghan province Paktia and circled the bordering village of Zoi Nara for more than five minutes.– File PhotoAs if the tension needed to ratchet up between the Pakistani government and the U.S./NATO ...today the Pakistani government lodged a complaint about two NATO helicopters that supposedly violated Pakistani air space into North Waziristan.
From the article at DAWN:
Pakistani officials on Wednesday accused Nato helicopters of violating Pakistan’s air space over the Taliban and Haqqani stronghold of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border.
“Two helicopters intruded several kilometres inside Pakistan territory in Datta Khel town around 2:00 am (2100 GMT Tuesday),” a military official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The helicopters flew in from the eastern Afghan province Paktia and circled the bordering village of Zoi Nara for more than five minutes, the official in the provincial capital Peshawar said.
Another military official said the choppers left after “warning shots” were fired by Pakistan troops.
Officials said they were not attack helicopters.
Dildar Khan, a tribal police official in Datta Khel, said the helicopters flew at a relatively low altitude and returned after the warning shots.
I have no idea what this might have been about - as you can see, this are reported not to be Apache aircraft ....I can't imagine a couple of non-attack choppers from NATO just deciding to go hover over North Waziristan but at the same time, perhaps there was some sort of surveillance going on of Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan and back again. But that seems a bit of a stretch if there were Pakistani troops and police that close by.
At the same time, the Pakistanis seem more concerned about NATO violating some air space than hundreds of Taliban flowing back into Pakistan and raising hell.
Nato helicopters violate air space: Pakistani officials
PESHAWAR: Pakistani officials on Wednesday accused Nato helicopters of violating Pakistan’s air space over the Taliban and Haqqani stronghold of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border.
“Two helicopters intruded several kilometres inside Pakistan territory in Datta Khel town around 2:00 am (2100 GMT Tuesday),” a military official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The helicopters flew in from the eastern Afghan province Paktia and circled the bordering village of Zoi Nara for more than five minutes, the official in the provincial capital Peshawar said.
Another military official said the choppers left after “warning shots” were fired by Pakistan troops.
Officials said they were not attack helicopters.
Dildar Khan, a tribal police official in Datta Khel, said the helicopters flew at a relatively low altitude and returned after the warning shots.
Militants are dug in on both sides of the border and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week called on Pakistan to do more to squeeze militant havens on its territory, particularly those of the Haqqani network.
Nato said on Monday that 200 Taliban-linked militants were killed or captured in military operations along the border designed to hit the insurgency hard ahead of the winter, when rebels retreat to hideouts.
Nato commanders have reported a huge increase in rocket attacks from Pakistani territory over the summer.
Pakistani officials have also complained about an increase in cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
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