Sep 26, 2008 7:07 AM

Pak Soldiers Fire on U.S. Copters, Troops (Updated)

Their president may be getting all flirty with our VP candidate. In the meantime, Pakistan’s troops and American forces are getting into firefights with increasing regularity. The latest incident: Pakistani soldiers fired on U.S. helicopters — while those choppers were still in Afghan airspace. The shooting comes just a day after an American Predator spy […]

Their president may be getting all flirty with our VP candidate. In the meantime, Pakistan's troops and American forces are getting into firefights with increasing regularity. The latest incident: Pakistani soldiers fired on U.S. helicopters -- while those choppers were still in Afghan airspace.

The shooting comes just a day after an American Predator spy drone mysteriously went down in Pakistan, and a week after Pakistani generals ordered their soldiers to "open fire" if U.S. troops crossed the border.

Reports of skirmishes between American and Pakistani forces have become more and more common. But mostly, they've been based on semi-reliable Pakistani accounts, or on second-hand information. American officials have been reluctant to confirm anything, on the record.

But this latest incident was reported by the Pentagon's own Armed Forces Press Service.

The aircraft were on a mission as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The OH-58 Kiowas never intruded on Pakistani airspace, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
The Pakistani fire did not hit the choppers and the
American aircraft did not return fire, Whitman said. “U.S. forces always maintain the right of self-defense,” he said. “In this particular case, my understanding is they just broke off and didn’t return fire.”
*The incident occurred near the Pakistan border in the Afghan province of Khowst, NATO officials in Kabul said.
NATO officials are speaking with Pakistani military officials to get to the bottom of the situation. *

UPDATE: As soon as this post was published yesterday, commenter Jim smelled something fishy with the Pentagon's version of what went down. He wrote, "Pakistan troops on the Pakistani side of the border initiated small arms fire against the helicopters while they were 'still a mile inside
Afghan airspace.' Now, the range of most small arms is, at best, 1000
yards. A helicopter pilot would be lucky to even see an AK muzzle flash from a mile away, slightly more if its a heavier machinegun. Methinks someone is lying, and it isn't the Pakistanis."

Turns out, Jim was dead-on. This was a firefight between Pakistani and U.S.-Afghan ground patrols, American officials tells the Washington Post.

According to the U.S. Central
Command, the incident began when Pakistani troops at the checkpoint opened fire on two small American helicopters that were providing air support to the U.S.-Afghan unit while it was on patrol near the border.
In response, Americans in the patrol fired shots into a hillside on which the checkpoint stood. Pakistani forces then fired on the patrol.
The firing ended after about five minutes and the patrol left the area.
U.S. accounts say neither the patrol nor the copters, Kiowa OH-58s, crossed the border. Pakistan disagreed. "When the helicopters passed over our border post and were well within Pakistan territory..." a Pakistani military statement said. It said nothing about a ground patrol.

[Photo: Reuters / Yahoo]

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