ISLAMABAD — Local Taliban fighters reportedly seized parts of three US helicopters — Chinook, Black Hawk and Cobra — while being shipped to neighboring Afghanistan. "Yes, this is true," a Pakistani intelligence official told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, requesting anonymity for the sensitivity of the issue.
"That happened in the first week of June in Jamrud area when dozens of militants attacked the convoy guarded by Pakistani paramilitary troops," he added.
Jamrud is a small town of Kyber agency, located some 40 Kilometers north of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North Western Frontier Province, which borders war-hacked Afghanistan.
According to the intelligence sources, US forces were transporting helicopters in unassembled form in containers, which landed at Karachi port and traveled by road to Peshawar and then entered the tribal areas for onward journey to Afghanistan.
"When the convoy entered the Khyber Agency, Baitullah Mehsud-led local Taliban intercepted the convoy near Jamrud and opened fire on the Pakistani paramilitary troops, who were guarding the convoy," said the intelligence official.
He said several Pakistani soldiers were killed in the attack.
Mehsud, Pakistan’s most wanted man, is the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organization of all pro-Taliban militant groups operating in the 700-kilometer tribal belt along the Afghanistan border.
Intelligence sources believe Mehsud commands between 8000 to 10,000 trained militants.
One American diplomat stationed in Islamabad refused to either confirm or deny the report.
"We have only heard about that," he told IOL on condition of anonymity.
"We are not in a position to confirm that until unless we hear anything officially from State Department or the Pentagon."
Blow
The Pakistani intelligence official said the shipment convoy was not heavily guarded.
"The US and Pakistani officials had agreed that the convoy should not be prominent because of the sensitive material it was carrying," he said.
"That was why heavy security was not provided."
Interestingly, the incident happened in the same area where Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was kidnapped in February this year before being freed months later.
Some sources suggested that the recent US air strike in Mohmind agency, which killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and several civilians, was targeting a place where the unassembled parts of the three helicopters were said to be stored.
Taliban reportedly filmed all the stolen parts and supplied CDs to militants operating in different parts of Afghanistan.
"The coalition forces captured a CD during a raid in Farah province (Afghanistan)," said the intelligence official.
"The US forces are desperate to destroy the stolen parts so that they could not be sold to international weapon dealers. That is why, they did not inform or take the Pakistani government into confidence while attacking the suspected store (in Mohmind agency)."
The strike drew an unprecedented strongly-worded condemnation from the Pakistani army which branded it as a " cowardly act."
Professor Shameem Akhtar, a senior defense and security analyst and former head of the International Relations Department, the University of Karachi, described the stealing of the helicopters’ parts as a big blow to the US.
"It will certainly demoralize the coalition forces, which have already been facing a tough time, especially in southern Afghanistan," he told IOL.
"Hijacking the helicopters’ parts and the Kandahar prison break will leave long-lasting impact as far as the morale of the coalition forces is concerned."
A suicide bomber blew up a water tank trunk near the main gate of Kandahar’s Sarposa Prison, while fighters used gunfire and rockets to launch a broader assault.
Hundreds of prisoners, including about 400 Taliban fighters, then fled into waiting cars and vans commandeered by fighters.
"These daring attacks have exposed the competence of the coalition forces."