The U.S. Department of Defense is denying Pakistani tribal leaders'
allegations that Pakistani soldiers forced U.S. military helicopters to
turn back to Afghanistan after the aircraft allegedly crossed into
Pakistani territory.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Monday that he investigated the alleged incident and found it "did not happen."
Tribal leaders in South Waziristan say Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots at the U.S. helicopters before dawn on Monday.
But a Pakistani army spokesman denied that account. He said U.S.
helicopters did not cross into Pakistani airspace and that Pakistani
soldiers were not responsible for the gunfire.
However, he did confirm that there had been shooting.
Whitman says there is no mission that correlates to the tribal leaders'
reports, and he said there are no military reports about any U.S.
helicopter being fired upon.
In other news, a Pakistani official says government troops backed by
helicopter gunships killed 15 suspected militants in the Bajuar tribal
region today (Monday) near the Afghan border.
Pakistan says more than 100 people, most of them militants, have been
killed in the area in the past few days as part of a renewed military
offensive.
In a separate development, militants in Pakistan's northwestern Swat
Valley say they have released 25 of the nearly 40 soldiers and police
officers they abducted in July.
A spokesman Muslim Khan for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Swat
says the members of the Pakistani security forces were freed today. The
militants are still holding 13 others hostage.