Pakistan Army on Tuesday denied reports that NATO helicopters entered the North Waziristan tribal agency and frisked away five militants.
Reports said that two NATO helicopters intruded into the Pakistani territory on Monday to hunt insurgents without informing government and five Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders were arrested in the Gorvait area of North Waziristan.
A spokesman of Pakistan Army contradicted the report that “NATO Forces violated the air space and has carried out an operation in side Pakistan‘s territory.”
“There was no violation by any NATO helicopters in North Waziristan Agency,” the spokesman concluded in a statement.
The US Embassy in Islamabad and ISAF also categorically denied report of cross border operation into Pakistan and termed it as a false story, an US embassy statement has said.
US Embassy officials in Islamabad have verified with ISAF officials in Kabul that no such operation took place, the embassy statement said.
The reports of alleged NATO intrusion came just a day after Pakistani media said that Pakistani forces are set for a major offensive in North Waziristan tribal region against the Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her visit to Pakistan on Friday asked Pakistan to take decisive steps against the militants.
Reports said that Pakistani officials have advised aid agencies to prepare for help to some 50,000 families who are likely to be displaced as the result of possible operation.
The US had been asking Pakistan to launch operation in North Waziristan, but Islamabad had been reluctant. But the mounting pressure has now forced Pakistan to act against the militants.
Several Taliban groups and the Haqqani network, led by an Afghan commander, Sirajuddin Haqqani, are active in the region and the US says they are planning cross border attacks into Afghanistan.
