Just a day after the US and Pakistan agreed to jointly act against terrorists operating from inside the Pakistani territory, the NATO breached the understanding as its two choppers intruded into the Pakistani airspace and fire upon a border checkpost, injuring two Pakistani soldiers.
Reacting strongly to the NATO action, Pakistan lodged a strong protest and demanded a flag meeting of NATO and Pakistani officials. “Two NATO helicopters violated the Pakistan airspace today at Adam Kot Post, North Waziristan Agency, in early hours of Tuesday. The troops at the post fired upon the helicopters and as a result of an exchange of fire, two of our soldiers received injuries.
The Pakistan Army has lodged a strong protest and demanded a flag meeting,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. Per details, the NATO helicopters entered the Pakistani airspace and went for shelling in Adam Kot, a border village in Datta Khel. The forces opened fire at the intruding choppers and an exchange of fore ensued, resulting in injuries to two soldiers.
Pakistani authorities expressed severe reservation over the violation of its airspace by NATO choppers and demanded an early meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan and US military commanders. Officials in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan, said two Pakistani choppers were dispatched to Datta Khel, but the NATO choppers had returned to Afghanistan by then.
Reports from across the border in Afghanistan said NATO forces were reluctant to comment on the incident, saying NATO had initiated an investigation into the incursion. In September 2010, shelling by NATO choppers had killed two personnel of the security forces in this very region. In reaction, Pakistan had halted all supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan via Torkham.
The NATO incursions come at a time when the Pak-US relations are already at a critical stage after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. The US believes the Datta Khel region strong hold of the Taliban led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Pakistani Haqqani network. Meanwhile, unidentified militants fired rockets at two NATO oil supply tankers in Amangarh area of Nowshehra district on Tuesday morning. Both the tankers were destroyed, but no loss of life was reported.
