US and Pakistani officials have offered
different accounts as to what exactly prompted the firefight between a
US chopper and Pakistani troops near the Afghan border on Tuesday.
A US helicopter exchanged fire with Pakistani troops near the border
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, resulting in injuries for two
Pakistani soldiers, ABC News reports.The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that US helicopters were in Afghanistan near Forward Operating Base Tillman, when they responded to incoming direct and indirect fire from over the border in Pakistan, presumably from militants, according to the report.
The helicopters initially did not return fire, but when a second round of incoming fire began, they did fire in response, the ISAF added.
The Pakistani military, however, said that two NATO helicopters caused the incident by violating Pakistani airspace before being fired upon by Pakistani troops.
"We know for sure the [Apache] helicopter was fired upon-we got rounds inside the helicopter," General John Campbell, East region commander for the ISAF, was quoted as saying.
"The helicopter returned fire and we are working through just exactly what happened... If [American soldiers] are taking effective fire, then by all means they have to take all measures to safeguard themselves and the other people around there," he added.
Campbell told the news channel that insurgents sometimes fire on NATO troops from near Pakistani outposts in hopes of drawing US return fire.
He said that communication between the American and Pakistani militaries had suffered in the backlash following the May 2 Osama bin Laden operation, which has increased chances of such incidents on the border.
"You just have to be talking back and forth ... so if something comes from Pakistan and somebody has fired, we can pull up our Pakistani counterparts and say, 'Hey, we are getting fire from here. We need you guys to go take care of that,'" he said. "So it's very important to try to work that relationship."
General David Rodriguez, the ISAF commander in Afghanistan, said it is "very tense along the border", and that American troops are "trying to be as careful as we can, as have the Pakistanis."
Though the Pakistani military lodged a "strong protest" over the incident, one Pakistani military official said the army made it clear that it was not overly concerned when it requested the meeting at the colonel or brigadier general level, the report said.
Had the incident been fatal or had the Pakistani military wanted to object more strongly, it would have made the request to meet at a higher level or raised stronger complaints at a diplomatic level, the official added. (ANI)
