Indonesian ambassador injured in Pakistan chopper crash dies
The Indonesian ambassador to Islamabad, who was severely injured in a recent helicopter crash in northern Pakistan, has died.
Burhan Muhammad, who was being treated for severe burns at Singapore General Hospital, succumbed to his injuries early on Tuesday.
Muhammad suffered nearly 75 percent burns when the Pakistani military helicopter he was traveling in together with a number of foreign diplomats crashed through a school in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan territory and burst into flames on May 8.
Ambassadors of the Philippines and Norway as well as the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors to Pakistan along with two pilots and a crew member also lost their lives in the fatal crash.
A group of pro-Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the crash; however, the Pakistani government blamed a technical failure for the incident.
Hours after the accident, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants said they had targeted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was on board another chopper of the convoy of three helicopters.
"The helicopter was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, killing pilots and many foreign ambassadors," a group's spokesman, Muhammad Khorasani, said in an Urdu-language statement on May 8.
He added, "A special group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had prepared a special plan to target Nawaz Sharif during his visit but he survived because he was traveling in another helicopter."
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in militant attacks since 2001, when Islamabad entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror. Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
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