Kabul seeks to free hostages in Pakistan chopper crash

Taliban militants set a Pakistani Mi-17 transport helicopter on fire and took the crew hos
AFP

Puli Alam (Afghanistan) (AFP) – Afghanistan scrambled Friday to free six crew members of a Pakistani helicopter taken hostage by the Taliban after it crash-landed in the country’s volatile east.

Militants set the Mi-17 transport helicopter on fire and took the six crew to a Taliban-controlled area after it made an emergency landing in Logar province on Thursday, local authorities said.

The crew included retired Pakistani military officers and a Russian navigator, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported citing senior local officials.

“We have launched an investigation into the incident… and the government has instructed security forces to spare no efforts to secure the release of the crew members,” the Afghan defense ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Pakistan had sought permission to fly a helicopter, being sent to Russia for overhauling, over Afghan air space.

But it added it was investigating whether the crashed chopper was the one for which permission had been granted.

Kabul has long been suspicious of Pakistan, which it accuses of nurturing Taliban sanctuaries on its soil in the effort to maintain influence in Afghanistan.

Pakistani army chief General Raheel Sharif tweeted that he had telephoned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to secure the release of the crew.

“President Ashraf Ghani assured all possible assistance in this regard,” he tweeted.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it was checking media reports that one of their citizens had been taken hostage, adding it was in contact with Afghan and Pakistani authorities to secure his release.

The Taliban have so far not commented on the incident.  

Pakistan’s military uses Russian-made MI-17 helicopters, several of which have crashed in recent years.

In February, an army officer was killed when a military helicopter crashed in northern Pakistan on a routine night training mission.

In May 2015 the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines, the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors, two pilots and a crew member were killed when the Pakistani Mi-17 carrying them crashed in northern Naltar valley.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.