Six crew members of a Pakistani Mi-17 helicopter, taken hostage by the Afghan Taliban after their chopper crash-landed in Afghanistan, on Saturday arrived in Islamabad following their release, officials said.
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“All crew members were handed over to Pakistani in Kurram tribal region”, an official said.
The head of the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan, a former Pakistani Taliban member named Hafiz Saeed Khan, was killed in a USA airstrike last month, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Six crew members of crashed chopper safely returned was posted in National of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 13, 2016 and was last updated on August 13, 2016.
Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge confirmed Khan’s death, saying the air strike took place during joint operations by United States and Afghan special operations forces against IS in the southern part of Nangarhar province.
The release of the of the crew was made possible through talks between tribal jirgas on both sides of the border, sources confirmed.
A spokesman for the US -led mission in Afghanistan said the equipment was lost when USA forces had to move a casualty collection area because they came under fire and denied that any US personnel had been captured.
The Afghan officials and the militants have neither confirmed the release nor have they commented on the negotiations that set them free.
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The army chief also called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last week and asked him to help in organising a safe and early recovery of the hostages.
