In the Congo, Pakistani & Indian military forces engage in battle…
… but on the same side. This must be a historical moment, and is encouraging in its own way.
Pakistani troops executing an operation in retaliation for attacks on Bangladeshi troop received air transportation, and later aerial fire support, from IAF helicopters. Quite nicely ties all 3 major sub-continental countries together…
Couple of sources, both Pakistani & Indian. The Indian source gives some more detail, so I’ll use that one.
http://www.dawn.com/2005/03/06/top7.htm
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050306/asp/nation/story_4460001.asp
“The Pakistani troops were on a seek-and-destroy mission against a militia headquarters. They came under heavy fire and sought air support. IAF helicopters have been accompanying the troops continuously but we actually saw joint combat with them on Tuesday,” the sources said.
The air element was called in to support troops from the Pakistan Army’s 21 Punjab Regiment. The Indians and Pakistanis are part of the UN’s “Blue Helmets” (peacekeepers) and were attacking a village named Loga where nine soldiers of the Bangladeshi contingent were killed on February 25.
**The Pakistani infantry troops were flown to Loga, some 30 km north of Bunia, the headquarters of Ituri province, in Indian Air Force Mi-17 transport helicopters. **In the seek-and-destroy mission against a base of the Lendu tribal militia of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), the troops ran into a firefight that lasted more than three hours.
The UN troops were fired at from hills around the village and they asked for air support. An Mi-25 gunship was flown in from Goma.
“As we were withdrawing to a new position, the militia aimed rockets and were closing in on us when an Indian attack helicopter came in,” Ihtibar Khan, one of two injured Pakistani soldiers, was quoted as telling a South African newspaper. Khan is in a military hospital in South Africa.