ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.S. helicopters flew into Pakistan’s militant-infested border region, but returned to Afghanistan after troops and tribesmen opened fire, intelligence officials said Monday. Washington denied the account.
The alleged incident late Sunday threatened new rifts between the United States and its key ally against terrorism.
Pakistan is under growing U.S. pressure to act against al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents sheltering in its border region and blamed for rising attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan and suicide bombings in Pakistan.
U.S. officials believe that al-Qaida’s leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are hiding somewhere along the border.
A series of suspected U.S. missile strikes into the lawless region and a Sept. 3 raid 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 Pakistani troops and tribesmen responded with small-arms fire, but it was not clear whether it was aimed at the choppers or just warning shots.
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 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 the missile strikes and incursions were violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty and only fueled extremist violence.
Zardari, who is expected to meet President Bush in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week, reiterated that he welcomed U.S. intelligence help, but not its troops.
“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.”
Also Monday, Afghanistan said it wants to set up a joint military force that would have the power to operate on both sides of the border with Pakistan, where militants have found safe haven.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said Monday that he has proposed creating a joint force to include coalition forces operating on Afghan territory and Pakistanis operating on their side.
“A terrorist does not recognize any boundaries,” Wardak said. “So to fight them I think we have to eventually come up with some arrangement together with our neighbor, Pakistan — that we should have a combined and joint task force of coalition, Afghan and Pakistanis to be able to operate on both sides of the borders regardless of which side.”
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