Following the crash of the helicopter in which six people were killed, the Pakistani Embassy in Jakarta cleared Friday that the incident was not the result of a terrorist attack.
Muhammad Shahid Siddeq, the defense attaché, denied the reports that the Pakistani military helicopter carrying mostly foreign diplomats including the Philippine envoy was shot down by Taliban.
This is contrary to the Pakistani Taliban’s spokesman statement on Friday that the group had struck the aircraft with a ground-to-air missile hoping to assassinate the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who officials said had been travelling to the same region in a plane.
Siddeq explained that the area were the plane crashed was free of Taliban activity.
“The crash happened after the helicopter experienced technical difficulties 30 feet from where it was supposed to land. There were many ground witnesses to the crash. It is currently still under investigation,” Siddeq told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Deaths of Hery, the wife of Indonesian ambassador to Pakistan Burhan Muhammad; wife of the Malaysian ambassador, the Philippine and the Norwegian ambassadors were also confirmed while others were injured.
The diplomats were set to attend the inauguration of a project in Gilgit when the incident happened.
H/T: Inquirer.net; AP photo