ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Troops battled Taliban militants Sunday morning to win control of the remnants of a CIA drone that crashed in the borderlands, according to Pakistani security officials.
The cause of the crash of the unmanned Predator aircraft, among the drones the CIA uses to fire missiles at Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the rocky region bordering Afghanistan, remained in dispute hours after it was downed in Zangarha village in South Waziristan. A military intelligence official based in the nearest city, Wana, said the drone suffered a mechanical failure. The Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan insurgent organization, said its fighters had shot down the aircraft.
Pakistan’s tribal belt is a no- go zone for journalists and outsiders, making it impossible to verify the accounts of the crash. U.S. officials do not publicly acknowledge or discuss the covert drone program; the CIA declined to comment Sunday on the crash reports. The Pakistani security officials who spoke did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
But if the reports prove true, the crash would be among a rare few in the seven-year drone campaign in Pakistan, and it could risk exposing extremely sensitive technology, including cameras and other sensors used to monitor insurgents. Although the Taliban might have little tactical use for the debris, some of Pakistan’s allies, including Iran and China, might be interested in it.
In May, a U.S. helicopter crashed during the American commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the northwestern Pakistani city of Abbottabad, and U.S. officials later said they suspected, but had not confirmed, that Pakistan gave the Chinese access to the largely destroyed helicopter. Pakistani officials denied doing so.
