Gilgit: A Pakistani military helicopter crashed yesterday, killing seven people including the Norwegian and Philippine envoys and setting a school building ablaze in a remote northern valley.
The Pakistani Taliban later claimed to have struck the aircraft with a ground-to-air missile hoping to assassinate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was flying to the region at the same time — but the claim was rebutted by officials and multiple eye-witnesses, including Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.
The helicopter was one of three carrying a delegation of ambassadors to inspect projects on a three-day trip to Gilgit-Baltistan where they were set to meet with Sharif. The military and Pakistan’s foreign office said the crash was due to a technical fault while landing. Officials added the school was shut at the time.
Leif H Larsen, the Norwegian envoy, and Domingo D Lucenario Jr of the Philippines were killed along with the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors, the helicopter’s two pilots and another crew member, according to tweets from an official army account. AFP
