Afghan Plane Downed by Pakistani Jets : Action Follows Bombing Raids Killing Scores in Refugee Areas

Two Pakistani jets shot down an Afghan warplane Monday over a mountainous area of Pakistan where Afghan bombing raids killed scores of people in the last week, officials reported.

Pakistani observers reached at the border said the aircraft exploded in a huge flash of flame, and no one was seen bailing out before it slammed into the mountains. “It was hit by a missile, then it exploded,” one witness told reporters by telephone.

A Pakistani Defense Ministry statement announcing the destruction of the Soviet-built jet said any future intruders also will be shot down. A top military official said privately that Pakistan’s patience is exhausted and it is striking back because of a number of Afghan air raids last week.

All the attacks have been in border areas populated by some of the approximately 3 million Afghan refugees who live in Pakistan. Towns and camps along the border serve as bases and supply points for Muslim insurgents who have been at war in Afghanistan since a Communist coup in April, 1978.

The Soviet Union sent military forces into the country in December, 1979, and now has an estimated 115,000 soldiers there to help fight the guerrillas.

The only other Afghan air force plane reported shot down by the Pakistanis was a jet destroyed by F-16s over the town of Parachinar in May, 1986.

10 Miles Inside Border

A Defense Ministry spokesman said that two of Pakistan’s U.S.-made F-16 fighters intercepted the Afghan plane about 10 miles inside the border near Parachinar and shot it down with a missile. The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with official practice, said the wreckage fell north of the town.

He said military patrols continued to search for the wreckage, but whether it fell on Pakistani or Afghan territory was not clear.

According to his report, the Afghan air force plane was a jet, but the type had not been determined. Afghanistan’s small air force is equipped entirely with Soviet-made aircraft, most of then MIG-17s, MIG-21s and SU-17s.

However, an observer at the scene told reporters by telephone from Parachinar that the aircraft was an Antonov 26 transport modified for reconnaissance and photography.

“It came 10 or even 12 miles inside (Pakistan), it was almost in the middle of the valley when it was caught,” Maj. Shah Nawaz of the Kurram Militia said. “Two (Pakistani) aircraft surrounded it, and one of them fired at it.”

Nawaz said the attack came in the middle of the day. “I could see it with my own eyes . . . it was right behind our mess (Kurram Militia),” he said.