04.07.2009.
Izvor: AFP
Najmanje 26 lica je poginulo kada se u severozapadnom Pakistanu usled tehničke greške srušio helikopter Mi-17...
Cela vestAt least 26 security personnel on board a military helicopter were killed on Friday in northwestern Pakistan when it crashed due to a technical fault, security officials said.
The accident occurred on the border of the semi-autonomous Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions.
"An MI-17 (military) helicopter crashed due to a technical fault this afternoon at the border of Orakzai and Khyber agency. Twenty-six security personnel on board embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," a senior security official said.
He said that the site of crash was 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
Another security official also confirmed the crash and casualties and said, "detailed investigations are being carried out."
Pakistan has been pressing a two-month battle to dislodge militants in three districts of the northwest and has launched air raids in the tribal belt to lay the groundwork for a second front against the Taliban.
Fighter jets have been pounding suspected insurgent hideouts in South and North Waziristan, where the military says it is preparing for a full-scale offensive against Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
Military and government officials announced the assault against Mehsud and his network in mid-June, vowing to track down and eliminate the warlord blamed for a wave of deadly blasts in Pakistan in the past two years.
Pakistan has offered a 615,000-dollar reward for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Mehsud, who is holed up in South Waziristan.
About 2,000 people have died in bombings since July 2007 and the United States has put Pakistan at the heart of its war against Al-Qaeda and efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, welcoming a military push to clear out Taliban havens.
Fighting in Pakistan's tribal belt follows two months of assaults to root out the Taliban from three districts of North West Frontier Province.
Commanders say those assaults are nearly over, but sporadic fighting has continued and many areas have been devastated by the offensive, leaving it unclear how an estimated two million displaced people can easily return home.
During the last 24 hours, the Pakistani military said at least 13 militants and four local tribesmen were killed in the districts of Swat and Dir.
Death tolls are impossible to confirm independently because fighting takes place in closed military zones and the army has faced scepticism that more than 1,600 militants have been killed since late April.
Washington alleges Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion are holed up in South Waziristan.
