The Pakistani army said yesterday it had found the wreckage of a suspected US spy plane near the Afghan border, but denied claims that it had been shot down.
The incident comes amid strained ties between Washington and Islamabad over a series of missile strikes from US drones at suspected militants targets on the Pakistan side of the border.
Three Pakistani intelligence officials earlier said troops and tribesmen had shot down the aircraft late on Tuesday near Jalal Khel, a village in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.
However, a Pakistan army statement yesterday said security forces had recovered the crashed surveillance aircraft. It said a technical problem appeared to have brought it down and that it was investigating further.
US officials did not confirm the loss of any their drones, which can also be equipped with video surveillance equipment.
Confirmation of Pakistani forces firing on US troops or aircraft could trigger a crisis in relations between Islamabad and Washington, who are close but uncomfortable allies in the US-led war on terrorism.
Pakistani leaders are condemning stepped-up US operations across the border from Afghanistan — especially a highly unusual raid into South Waziristan by US commandos on Sept. 3.
The government says it is trying to resolve the dispute diplomatically.
However, the army has vowed to defend Pakistan’s territory “at all cost,” and Tuesday’s incident was at least the third this month in which Pakistani troops have reportedly opened fire to counter an incursion.
US President George W. Bush did not directly refer to the incursions after he met his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, for the first time in New York on Tuesday.
“Your words have been very strong about Pakistan’s sovereign right and sovereign duty to protect your country, and the United States wants to help,” Bush said.
The three Pakistani intelligence officials said the drone was hit after circling the Angoor Ada area of South Waziristan for several hours. Wreckage was strewn on the ground, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
A senior US official challenged the account.
“We’re not aware of any drones being down,” said the official, who also asked for anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber rammed a military jeep in a Pakistani border city yesterday, killing an 11-year-old girl and injuring 11 troops, police said.
The attacker rammed the military vehicle on the road to the airport in Quetta, provincial police chief Asif Nawaz Warraich said.
Speaking to Dawn News television, Warraich said 13 people were injured, including 11 from the paramilitary Frontier Corps. Some of the troops were in serious condition, he said.
Raja Ishtiaq, another senior police official, said seven injured people were brought to Quetta’s main hospital and that an 11-year-old schoolgirl had died.
Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, is considered a hub for Taliban militants.
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