ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is waiting for an answer from the Afghan government over the location of a helicopter which crash landed in Afghanistan with reports of all seven people on board taken hostage by the Taliban.
The foreign office in its statement said that the Afghan government had not given any information to Pakistan despite a lapse of 24 hours into the incident.
The Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif called the Army Chief on Friday inquiring about the hostages. He is also in contact with officials in the Afghan government, a CM House statement said.
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif called General John Nicholson, Commander Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and asked him to help recover the crew of the chopper that crash landed in Logar, according to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
A Pakistani government helicopter crash-landed in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said, with Afghan media and officials reporting that all seven people on board were taken hostage by the Taliban.
Officials at the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad confirmed the crash-landing, adding that the helicopter was bought by the Punjab government from Uzbekistan and was being taken from there for overhauling.
The insurgents have not so far commented on the incident in Azra district in the restive province of Logar.
"An Mi-17 transport helicopter belonging to the Punjab government was scheduled to fly to Russia for repair. We think the same chopper crash-landed in Logar," Akhtar Munir, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, told news agency AFP.
"We don't know anything about the fate of those on-board or why it crash-landed."
The local district governor Hamidullah Hamid said seven people on board had been taken hostage by Taliban insurgents.
"They have been taken to an unknown location," he said.
The helicopter caught fire after it crashed, said Logar governor's spokesman Salim Saleh.
Â
0 comments:
Post a Comment