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Reported incursion into Pakistan didn't happen, U.S. says
Intelligence officials say informants in the field told them of the incident
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Published: September 23, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
U.S. helicopters flew into Pakistan's militant-infested border region, but returned to Afghanistan after Pakistani forces and tribesmen opened fire, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday. Washington said that there was no such incursion.
Pakistan is under growing U.S. pressure to act against al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents taking shelter in its border region and blamed for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan and suicide bombings in Pakistan. U.S. officials say that al-Qaida's leaders, including Osama bin Laden, may be hiding along the border.
A series of suspected U.S. missile strikes into the lawless region and a raid Sept. 3 by U.S. commandos said to have killed 15 people have highlighted U.S. impatience and angered many Pakistanis.
Two intelligence officials said, on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, that two U.S. helicopters crossed one mile into Pakistan in the Alwara Mandi area in North Waziristan on Sunday.
Citing informants in the field, they said that Pakistani forces and tribesmen responded with small-arms fire, but it was not clear whether it was aimed at the helicopters or just a warning.
The helicopters did not return fire and re-entered Afghan airspace without landing, the officials said.
That account was denied by Pentagon officials. "There was no such incursion; there was no such event," said Defense Department spokesman Col. Gary L. Keck.
White House press secretary Dana Perino, talking to reporters on Air Force One about the report, said: "I would question that report, and I'm going to refer to the Department of Defense for the veracity of the report, but that has been debunked."
Pakistan's army said it had no information on the reported incursion across the poorly demarcated border.
Its military chief and newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari have said that missile strikes and incursions are violations of Pakistan's sovereignty and serve to fuel extremist violence.
Zardari, who is expected to meet President Bush in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week, said again that he welcomed U.S. intelligence help, but not its forces.
"Give us the intelligence and we will do the job," he said in an interview with NBC. "It's better done by our forces than yours."
Saturday night, 53 people were killed and about 270 people were wounded in an attack on the heavily guarded Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The dead included the Czech ambassador and two U.S. Defense Department employees.
Most of the victims were Pakistanis, a fact that could help government efforts to present the struggle against the militants as its own battle, not one foisted on it by Washington as many here think.
Yesterday, TV channel Al-Arabiya, based in Dubai, said it had received a tape from a shadowy group calling itself "Fedayeen Al-Islam" -- Arabic for "Islam commandos" -- claiming responsibility for the bombing. The group also demanded an end to Pakistani-American cooperation against militants and an end to U.S. military operations in Pakistani tribal regions.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that the attack showed the need for Pakistanis, Afghans and the U.S. to redouble efforts against extremists in the region.
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