Taliban claims helicopter downing, says target was Pakistani PM

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for downing the military helicopter that crashed into a school in the Naltar Valley area, killing six people on board, including Datin Habibah Mahmud, the wife of the Malaysian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Datuk Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar.

AFP reported that the militant organisation had targeted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

"The helicopter was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, killing pilots and many foreign ambassadors," an Urdu-language statement emailed by their main spokesman, Muhammad Khorasani, said in the report.

The Gilgit-Baltistan region in the north of Pakistan where the chopper crashed is reportedly not a Taliban stronghold.

Also perished in the crash were the Norwegian ambassador Leif H. Larsen, Philippine ambassador Domingo D. Lucenario Jr, the wife of the Indonesian ambassador to Pakistan and the helicopter's two pilots.

The helicopter was one of three carrying a delegation of envoys to inspect projects on a three-day trip to Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan territory where they were set to meet with Sharif.

READ: Wife of Malaysian envoy among 6 dead in Pakistan helicopter crash

An earlier statement by Sharif's office had said his plane was en route to the Gilgit area at the time of the attack but turned back to Islamabad after news of the crash broke.

A senior local administration official said the crash set the school building on fire, but that no children were in class at the time.

"The school, built by Pakistan Air Force for the children of the area, was closed as part of a security plan for the prime minister's visit," he said in an AFP report. Earlier, an official had said that the school was open.

According to a list of passengers obtained by AFP, the ambassadors of Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Romania, Norway, South Africa, the Philippines and Poland were scheduled to fly on the helicopter.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement said Dr Hasrul Sani was reported to be injured in the incident and was being treated at the Gilgit Hospital.

The statement said the cause of the incident was still being investigated and the Malaysian High Commission in Islamabad was making efforts to obtain a full report on the incident.

In a Bernama report, Pakistan's military spokesman, Major-General Asim Bajwa said others in the MI-11 type helicopter were two military pilots identified as Major Altamash and Major Faisal.

"As per initial information, two helicopters landed safely while the third developed technical fault while landing.

"There were 13 survivors with varying degree of injuries. I'm in contact with those concerned. Will update as we get more info from the site," the report quoted Asim as saying.