WASHINGTON, Aug 14: A US intelligence official has alleged that Pakistan allowed Chinese military engineers to photograph and take samples from a top-secret stealth helicopter that US special forces left behind after the Abbottabad raid which killed Osama bin Laden.

The Financial Times quoted the official as saying on Sunday: “The action is the latest incident to underscore the increasingly complicated relationship and lack of trust between Islamabad and Washington following the raid.”

The newspaper quoted the unidentified official as accusing the ISI of playing a key role in giving the Chinese access to the downed helicopter.

The Chinese engineers were allowed to survey the wreckage and take its photographs, he said. They also took samples of its special “stealth” skin that allowed the American team to enter Pakistan undetected by radar, the official claimed.

The US official told the Financial Times that President Barack Obama’s National Security Council was now examining how to respond to the alleged Pakistani move.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, went to Pakistan two weeks after the raid to secure the tail’s return, according to the daily.

The Financial Times said Beijing had declined to comment on the allegation, as did the White House and CIA.—Correspondent