PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Taliban militant Saturday claim accountability for a military helicopter collide that killed 26 people in the craggy tribal area in the country's north.
The helicopter crashed Friday on the edge of the semi-autonomous Orakzai and Khyber tribal region and officials said no one survives.
"We shot down the helicopter," a spokesman for Taliban insurgent based in the close by Darra Adam Khel region said in a telephone call to AFP.
The spokesman identifies himself as Muhammad said it was in reprisal for the Pakistani military process in South Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold.
A military spokesman discarded the claim, reiterating Saturday that the helicopter had crashed due to a "technical fault."
"Taliban militants regularly make false claims," he added.
"All 26 people on board died and the wreckage of the helicopter has been detached," he said adding up that an inquiry had been ordered.
On Friday a senior security official said an MI-17 (military) helicopter stopped due to a technical fault, killing 26 security personnel on board.
He said that the place of crash was 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
Pakistan has been combating a two-month battle to dislodge militants in three districts of the northwest.
The military has also launch air raids in the tribal belt to prepare for a second front alongside the Taliban in South Waziristan, a stronghold of fear warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
The helicopter crashed Friday on the edge of the semi-autonomous Orakzai and Khyber tribal region and officials said no one survives.
"We shot down the helicopter," a spokesman for Taliban insurgent based in the close by Darra Adam Khel region said in a telephone call to AFP.
The spokesman identifies himself as Muhammad said it was in reprisal for the Pakistani military process in South Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold.
A military spokesman discarded the claim, reiterating Saturday that the helicopter had crashed due to a "technical fault."
"Taliban militants regularly make false claims," he added.
"All 26 people on board died and the wreckage of the helicopter has been detached," he said adding up that an inquiry had been ordered.
On Friday a senior security official said an MI-17 (military) helicopter stopped due to a technical fault, killing 26 security personnel on board.
He said that the place of crash was 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
Pakistan has been combating a two-month battle to dislodge militants in three districts of the northwest.
The military has also launch air raids in the tribal belt to prepare for a second front alongside the Taliban in South Waziristan, a stronghold of fear warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
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