The US military on Tuesday said that one of its Chinook helicopters delivering aid to earthquake victims was believed to have come under fire in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), but Islamabad denied the claim.
"A United States Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter flying in the vicinity of Chicote delivering relief aid to the earthquake victims, is believed to have been fired upon by a rocket-propelled grenade today around 1:45 pm," the military said in a statement issued by the US Embassy here.
"The aircraft was not hit and returned safely with its crew without further incident to Chaklala Air Base around 2:30 pm," the statement said.
"Both the US military and the Government of Pakistan are investigating this incident," it said.
Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP that the chopper had not come under RPG fire, but that the crew had heard a dynamite blast carried out to clear landslides triggered by the October 8 quake.
"Our investigation revealed that it was blasting on the roadside by engineers, under way exactly at that time when the helicopter was flying over the area," Sultan said.
"It was not RPG fire, mistakenly taken by the Chinook pilot," he said.
"We had a meeting with the US colleagues and it has been explained to them."
However, US Commander Nick Balice at the Disaster Assistance Centre's Public Affairs Office in Islamabad insisted that the helicopter had come under fire.
"Our air crew is familiar with the RPG fire," Balice said, when asked about the Pakistani statement about landslides.
Balice added that Chinook crews were trained to distinguish different types of fire.
The US Department of Defence currently has 24 military helicopters flying dozens of sorties daily to the relief centres and villages in quake-battered AJK and NWFP.