Obama’s peace partners shoots down helicopter – Kills foreign envoys
A combination photograph of Leif H Larsen, the Norwegian envoy, and Domingo D Lucenario Jr, Philippines ambassador to Pakistan. (Photo courtesy norway.org.pk and fsi.gov.ph)
The Taliban shot down a helicopter in northern Pakistan on Friday. The ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines were killed in the attack.
The Hindustan Times reported:
The ambassadors of Norway and Philippines were among seven people killed when a Pakistani military helicopter crashed into a school in the country’s mountainous north on Friday, authorities said, as the local Taliban claimed it shot down the aircraft.
The Russian-made helicopter was one of three army Mi-17s carrying a group of diplomats to the Gilgit-Baltistan region as part of a campaign to promote tourism when the chopper collided with the building that was reportedly empty 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, as well as the helicopter’s two pilots and a crew membe, the army tweeted.
Polish ambassador Andrzej Ananiczolish and Dutch envoy Marcel de Vink were reportedly among those injured…
…The crashed Mi-17 was carrying 17 people, including 11 foreigners, the military’s spokesperson Major-General Asim Bajwa tweeted.
Soon after the incident, the Pakistani Taliban group said it brought down the chopper with a shoulder-launched missile and it had hoped to attack Sharif’s aircraft as well, though Bajwa tweeted that the crashed helicopter developed a technical snag.
Update Naltar:7 Fatalities.Foreigners-4(Ambs Norway,Philipine,wife of Amb Indonesia,Malaysia).Pakistani-3; two pilots,one crew member-6
— AsimBajwaISPR (@AsimBajwaISPR) May 8, 2015
