Military probes US involvement in helicopter attack

Helicopters fired missiles into Pakistani territory today, wounding three people, and Pakistan opened an investigation into whether US choppers were involved, military officials said.

A US military spokesman in Afghanistan said American helicopters launched an air strike on a truck carrying munitions near the Afghan side of its border with Pakistan, but denied any missiles landing in Pakistan.

“We struck it (the truck) and then we went to the ground and went to a cave and found two more ... trucks loaded with rockets,” said Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick.

“This was a large weapons storage cache hidden in a cave and this was in Afghanistan.” Fitzpatrick said the attack happened near the border opposite Pakistan’s volatile North Waziristan tribal region.

But a senior Pakistani military official said two missiles landed close to the South Waziristan town of Angoor Ada near a quarry on Khawaja Haider mountain. Angoor Ada is about 300 metres from the Afghan border.

The official said three civilians were wounded but their identities were unclear while eight people were unaccounted for.