26 killed in Pakistan strikes on Afghan border

ISLAMABAD, June 10 (AFP): A Pakistani army helicopter crashed near the city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir due to a technical fault, the military said on Wednesday, adding there were no survivors.

Kashmir is considered highly sensitive by the Pakistani military and government after years of frequent skirmishes and full-blown wars with India.

"An Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad today during take-off due to technical fault," the military's media wing said in a statement.

"All personnel on board embraced Shahadat (martyrdom)," the military added, without specifying the number of people killed.

A Reuters report adds: Pakistan's military struck militant hideouts along the Afghan border, killing at least 26 militants, Pakistan's Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said on Wednesday.

Taliban authorities in Kabul earlier said the strikes in three provinces had killed 13 civilians, including 11 children.

Taliban chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid announced the airstrikes, which he said targeted the Afghan provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika. He said the strikes killed 11 children, one woman and one elderly man.

There was no immediate acknowledgment of the strikes from Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that killed hundreds of people since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.