Pakistani tribesmen shoot down US drone

US drone 'crashes in Pakistan'

 

A suspected US drone aircraft has crashed in northwest Pakistan's South Waziristan region, according to Pakistani security officials and media reports.

"A pilotless spy plane, we believe it is US, crashed in Pakistani territory but it did not disintegrate," a senior Pakistani security official said on Tuesday.

"Tribesmen picked it up and then Pakistani security forces retrieved it. No firing was heard in the area so there is no question of it being shot down."

Christian Patterson, a US military spokesman in Afghanistan, said officials were investigating the reports.

Wreckage found

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wright, a US Pentagon spokesman, said the CIA had "no reports of any loss of DoD (Department of Defence) drones," on Tuesday. 

Dawn News, one of several Pakistani channels reporting the incident, said security forces had found the wreckage of the drone 8km from Angor Adda, near the village of Jalal Khel, and 3km from the border with Afghanistan.

US commandos launched a ground assault on September 3 in Angor Adda, which Pakistani officials said killed 20 people, including women and children.

The incident is likely to add to tensions between Washington and Pakistan
following a spate of recent American cross-border incursions and drone attacks targeting suspected fighters.