Video: Taliban downed Pakistan helicopter carrying diplomats
to see video:
05/10/2015
Pakistani soldiers carry the caskets of victims of a helicopter crash to a military plane prior to their transport to Islamabad, at the small domestic airport of Gilgit, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, Saturday, May 9, 2015. The helicopter, transporting dignitaries to a ceremony at a ski resort, crashed and caught fire as it was landing on Friday killing seven people including ambassadors from the Philippines and Norway and the wives of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia. (AP Photo/M. Hussain)
By ZARAR KHAN
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A militant video purports to show Taliban fighters with a surface-to-air missile, claiming they used a similar one to shoot down a Pakistani helicopter carrying diplomats.
The video, obtained by The Associated Press, includes a message from the Pakistani Taliban claiming they fired a missile from a distance of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) to down the helicopter Friday.
"The missile hit the tail rotor," a written message in Urdu says at the video's start.
The crash killed the ambassadors to Pakistan from the Philippines and Norway and the wives of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as three Pakistani crew members. Twelve passengers, many of them diplomats, were injured.
Military officials could not be immediately reached Sunday to discuss the video. Previously, Pakistan said a technical failure caused the crash and dismissed an earlier Taliban claim as opportunistic.
However, the surface-to-air missile shown in the video appeared real. In the video, a masked militant discusses the missile's parts, while another portion shows what appears to be a hand-drawn picture discussing how a missile can strike a helicopter's tail rotor.
The video was released late Saturday via militant websites and corresponded to other messages distributed by the Pakistani Taliban, though the AP could not independently verify it. Militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan do have access to surface-to-air missiles.
A later Taliban statement Sunday said fighters' missile
hit the rotor as the helicopter turned, saving it from being destroyed
in mid-air.
"No matter if the Pakistani government accepts it or not, it doesn't bother us," the statement said. "God willing, we will carry out (more) such attacks."
Pakistani security forces have been battling militants in the country's northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan for the past several years, though the fighting took on a new urgency after a Taliban attack in December on a military school killed 150 people, many of them children.
The helicopter's crash site Friday in Naltar is several hundred kilometers (miles) from the North Waziristan tribal area, where fighting recently has been focused.
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A militant video purports to show Taliban fighters with a surface-to-air missile, claiming they used a similar one to shoot down a Pakistani helicopter carrying diplomats.
The video, obtained by The Associated Press, includes a message from the Pakistani Taliban claiming they fired a missile from a distance of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) to down the helicopter Friday.
"The missile hit the tail rotor," a written message in Urdu says at the video's start.
The crash killed the ambassadors to Pakistan from the Philippines and Norway and the wives of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as three Pakistani crew members. Twelve passengers, many of them diplomats, were injured.
Military officials could not be immediately reached Sunday to discuss the video. Previously, Pakistan said a technical failure caused the crash and dismissed an earlier Taliban claim as opportunistic.
However, the surface-to-air missile shown in the video appeared real. In the video, a masked militant discusses the missile's parts, while another portion shows what appears to be a hand-drawn picture discussing how a missile can strike a helicopter's tail rotor.
The video was released late Saturday via militant websites and corresponded to other messages distributed by the Pakistani Taliban, though the AP could not independently verify it. Militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan do have access to surface-to-air missiles.
"No matter if the Pakistani government accepts it or not, it doesn't bother us," the statement said. "God willing, we will carry out (more) such attacks."
Pakistani security forces have been battling militants in the country's northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan for the past several years, though the fighting took on a new urgency after a Taliban attack in December on a military school killed 150 people, many of them children.
The helicopter's crash site Friday in Naltar is several hundred kilometers (miles) from the North Waziristan tribal area, where fighting recently has been focused.
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.
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