Report: U.S. helicopters under fire in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - U.S. helicopters flew into Pakistan's militant-laden border region, but returned to Afghanistan after troops and tribesmen opened fire, intelligence officials said Monday.

The U.S. denied Monday there was any incursion but the reports threatened new rifts between Washington and its key anti-terror ally days after a truck bomb killed 53 people at a luxury hotel in Islamabad.

Nuclear-armed 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 as well as suicide bombings in Pakistan.

U.S. officials believe that al-Qaida's leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding somewhere along the border.

Late Monday, Dubai-based TV channel Al-Arabiya said it had received a tape from a shadowy group calling itself "Fedayeen Al-Islam" — Arabic for "Islam commandos" — claiming responsibility for Saturday's bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad and calling on Pakistan to end cooperation with the United States.

A spate of suspected U.S. missile strikes into the lawless border 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.

In the latest such alleged breach, two U.S. helicopters crossed one mile (two kilometers) late Sunday into Pakistan in the Alwara Mandi area in North Waziristan, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Citing informants in the field, they said Pakistani troops and tribesmen responded with small arms fire, but it was not clear whether the bullets were aimed at the choppers or were 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 L. Keck.

'Violations of the country's sovereignty'
Pakistan's army said it had no information on the reported incursion across the poorly demarcated border.

Pakistan's military chief and newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari have said the missile strikes and incursions were violations of the country's sovereignty and only fueled extremist violence.

Zardari, who is expected to meet U.S. President George W. 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 television. "It's better done by our forces than yours."

Some 270 people were wounded in the Saturday night attack on the heavily guarded Marriott hotel in the capital Islamabad, while the dead included the Czech ambassador and two U.S. Department of Defense employees.

Most of the victims were Pakistanis, a fact that could bolster government efforts to present the struggle against the militants as its own battle, not one foisted upon it by Washington as many here think.

Embassy employees told to limit movements
Al-Arabiya television said the group that claimed responsibility for the attack demanded an end to Pakistani-American cooperation against the militants and a halt to U.S. military operations in Pakistani tribal regions.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad warned its employees to limit their movement to travel to and from the Embassy and to shopping for essential items only.

It also warned all Americans to stay away from crowds, keep a low profile, and avoid setting patterns by varying times and routes for all required travel.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the attack showed the need for Pakistanis, Afghans, and the U.S. to redouble efforts against extremists in the region.

"This was a heinous act that was committed by terrorists who have no interest in anything other than maiming and killing innocent civilians. And we're going to step up our efforts and work with the Pakistanis to do what we can," he said.

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