September 16, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 15, 1429

PESHAWAR, Sept 15: Pakistani security forces fired at two US Chinook helicopters and foiled their attempt to land inside the tribal territory along the border with Afghanistan early on Monday morning, a local security official told Dawn.

However, there were conflicting accounts of the incident. The security source said that the two helicopters backed by a jet fighter had tried to land in the Angor Adda village of South Waziristan where a raid by US ground troops two weeks ago had killed 20 people, but were forced by ground fire to fly back to Afghanistan.

“Our forces fired on the helicopters and seeing this, local people also came out and started shooting,” he said.

But a spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations denied that Pakistani forces had fired at the Chinooks.

“The incident did not happen on this side of the border,” Major Murad Khan told Dawn.

“Like others, our forces stationed in the region also heard firing but where it came from and what was the target, we have no idea,” he said. In Washington, US defence officials also categorically stated that no such incident had taken place.Reuters news agency quoted a Pakistan official as saying that the US choppers had come into Pakistan by just 100 to 150 metres. “Even then our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away.”

Another security official said that US armoured vehicles were also seen moving on the Afghan side of the border, while US warplanes were seen overhead. He said Pakistani soldiers sounded a bugle call and fired in the air, forcing the helicopters to return to Afghan territory. Major Khan confirmed that there had been shooting. But he said the American helicopters had not crossed into Pakistani airspace and Pakistani troops were not responsible for the firing. “The US choppers were there at the border, but they did not violate our airspace,” Major Khan said.

“We confirm that there was a firing incident at the time when the helicopters were there, but our forces were not involved.” A spokesman for the US military at Bagram Airbase, north of Kabul, said its forces had not reported any such incident. “The unit in the area belongs to the (US-led) coalition. They are not reporting any such incident,” the US military spokesman said.

One Pakistani civilian official told Reuters by telephone that “the troops stationed at BP-27 post fired at the choppers and they turned away”.

Anwar Iqbal adds from Washington: US defence officials on Monday rejected reports of the firing in South Waziristan as “false” and “spurious” saying that no such incident had taken place.

“We have no indication that anything like that happened,” a spokesman for the US Central Command, Lt Commander William Speaks, told Dawn. “It did not happen at all.”

Mr Speaks said that after seeing the media reports the Centcom had checked all “operation records” and found no evidence of such an incident.

“According to all operation recordings that we have seen, there’s nothing to indicate that it happened,” he said.

“We have checked with our people in Afghanistan as well and they are saying it did not happen,” Lt. Commander Speaks said.