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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan general among eight dead in chopper crash: army |
| 2008-02-06 |
| A Pakistani general in charge of anti-Taliban operations was among eight personnel killed Wednesday when an army helicopter crashed in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the military said. The chopper came down near the village of Tanai in the mountainous tribal district of South Waziristan but a military spokesman quickly ruled out hostile action and blamed a "technical malfunction". The accident killed Major General Javed Sultan, the commanding officer of the northwestern Kohat garrison, which oversees the hunt for Taliban militants in the tribal belt, top army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. Two brigadiers, four officers including two pilots and a junior crewman were also killed when the Bell 412 transport helicopter crashed in the rugged region, Abbas said. "I strongly rule out any hostile or any sabotage action in the crash," Abbas told AFP. "It was caused by technical malfunctioning but we have not yet been able to determine the nature of the fault." South Waziristan has been wracked by fierce fighting between Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants and government forces in recent weeks that has left dozens of people dead. The rugged region is also the hideout of an Al-Qaeda-linked militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who is accused by Pakistani and US officials of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. But a militant spokesman said earlier Wednesday that Mehsud had declared an "indefinite" ceasefire with government troops in the area and across Pakistan. The army said however that operations were continuing. Several Pakistani army choppers have crashed in the country's mountainous northwest in recent years. A helicopter escorting President Pervez Musharraf to Pakistani Kashmir in October last year crashed and burst into flames, killing four troops. Musharraf's own helicopter was not affected. Six Pakistani soldiers were killed when another Mi-17 crashed days after the catastrophic October 2005 Pakistan earthquake. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #2 The accident killed Major General Javed Sultan, the commanding officer of the northwestern Kohat garrison, which oversees the hunt for Taliban militants in the tribal belt, top army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. Maybe a different pair of eyes over the fight will have a different result. |
| Posted by: Don Vito Chereque4608 2008-02-06 18:43 |
| #1 technical malfunctions usually happen when alot of small arms fire hits the choppers |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-02-06 15:49 |